Greece turns to diaspora for help

The Greek government is actively looking for Hellenes of the diaspora to help put an end to Greece’s political and financial troubles.
John Pandazopoulos, President, World Hellenic Inter-parliamentary Association (WHIA), met with members of the Greek government and said they were looking at ways to engage with the diaspora to see how their government works to solve some of the issues that Greece are currently faced with. Mr Pandazopoulos says there has been “a cultural shift” in the way Greece now views the diaspora.
“Greek people are saying to Greek MPs overseas and around the world ‘we want to engage with you, we want to know how your systems of government work’,” the MP tells Neos Kosmos.
“Unfortunately the financial circumstances are forcing them to think this way - without money you’ve got to look at alternative ways to get service delivery outcomes in the most affordable way.” Mr Pandazopoulos says the Greek government is looking for advice from members of parliament around the world on issues such as: illegal immigration; tourism; trade; work and holiday visas; and voting overseas.
He said the Greek government is paying particular attention to the Australian and Canadian systems to see how they deal with illegal immigrants.
“Greece’s problems with illegal immigration are partly a refugee thing, but partly also an issue with illegal workforce which Greece requires,” says Mr Pandazopoulos.
“So much of agricultural work is done by foreign workers who are not given the right visas to operate, simply because the locals don’t want to do the jobs themselves.”
He says Greece can learn from Australia because 40 per cent of illegal immigrants here leave voluntarily because they aren’t going to be persecuted. He says that Australia hold the illegal immigrants in detention centres, feed them, house them, check their health status and identity before returning them to their country of origin.
“The talks on how to tackle illegal migration is a positive thing; we may actually find ways to resolve the issue,” says Mr Pandazopoulos.
The MP says that Greece is particularly interested in WHIA as the members have vast experience in all tiers of government - from council to Federal Government, and he says the Greeks have a lot to learn from them.
“Greece is still very centralised; they haven’t evolved decision-making to the local level,” and adds that Australia is able to deliver the most effective service at the most affordable price as they have the right level of government to solve certain issues.
“[Greece is] looking at the diaspora because they need solutions that work in many jurisdictions because they need solutions that will work in the Greek political system,” he says.
Another issue that Greece faces is tourism. As Mr Pandazopoulos explains, “tourism in Greece is not coordinated enough.”
“Everyone expects the government to do everything, but they need to work with the private sector to reap the benefits.”
He adds that the best tourism destinations around the world use the mixed model of private and public funding. The private sector itself is an area where Mr Pandazopoulos sees room for improvement.
Mr Pandazopoulos concludes that all the issues facing Greece are because they are a “closed off society.”
“Even though it’s educated, it doesn’t engage much with the political realm out of Greece and has been very limited in learning about solving problems in different ways.”