The leader of Greece’s right-wing LAOS party, Giorgos Karatzaferis, has used false statements attributed to Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, in an attempt to call for the expulsion of foreigners from Greece.

Karatzaferis, whose right-wing party LAOS picked up 7.15 per cent of the vote in the recent Euro Elections, has claimed that “Illegal immigration cannot be tolerated any more” and said migrants already in Greece needed to respect the country or get out.

In doing so, he cited remarks which he fasely attributed as having been made by Australia’s ‘socialist’ Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.

Mr Karatzaferis claimed that Mr Rudd said; “We respect the religion and the culture and beliefs of every person that comes to this country, but these people need to remember that they came her willingly, to a Christian state, and they must learn to respect our culture and beliefs.

“We support any new migrants to the best of our ability, but they must remember we are not a rich country, we are a country in debt, and therefore if they don’t like it here, they should get up and leave.”

It should be noted that Mr Rudd never made these comments.

The comments first appeared on various Greek blogs before being picked up by members of the LAOS party. They eventually made their way into the speeches of Mr Karatzaferis.

“These are not my thoughts,” Mr Karatzaferis said relating to the false statements.
“These are the thoughts of Australia’s Prime Minister, a socialist Prime Minister.

They have been directly translated from English to Greek but if I were to say these comments in Greece I would be labeled a fascist,” Mr Karatzaferis added.

Neos Kosmos English Edition (NKEE) contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), to ascertain if the prime minister’s office or DFAT have made any representations on the matter.

A departmental spokesperson, said, “I can confirm that the Australian Embassy in Athens has not made representations on this matter.”

During his speech at the fourth national congress of the LAOS party recently, Mr Karatzaferis also called on a crackdown against crime, the wiping out of corruption in the public sectorand the punishment of corrupt politicians.

He also said the use of the name of Macedonia by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) is unacceptable and that Turkey has no place in the European Union.