Ballarat restaurateur Terry Frangos, who grew up in Australia, thinks that despite the economic crisis, Greece is still the “second best country in the world”. In an interview with ABC, Frangos, who took over from his father Peter to run Ballarat’s iconic Greek restaurant P. Frangos and Sons, says he admires the Greek people’s nonchalant attitude to life.
“It’s still a beautiful country, the summer’s perfect, the people are great, they live a fantastic lifestyle and they don’t work as hard as we do,” he said.
“You can smoke wherever you like, you can drink wherever you like and I’d go back there in a heartbeat.”
However, Frangos also said this nonchalant attitude is perhaps part of the reason the financial crisis came to be in the first place, and that perhaps the people need to take a leaf from Australians.
“For generations Greeks have avoided paying tax, they can’t go on so they have to go through a cultural change because the youth are paying for the mistakes of previous generations.”
“Here in Australia we pay [taxes] and we get good services, once they see good services they will pay and they will change.”
Frangos is welcoming of Greeks who are emigrating into Australia.
“The second and third generation Greeks who’ve grown up here don’t speak Greek, they know what it is to be Greek but if they could meet fresh arrivals that would be good for the country.”
Terry’s auntie in Greece also runs a restaurant and is considering coming back to Australia because she can’t make a living at the moment as locals tighten their belts. Meanwhile, his father Peter, who was a long time resident in Australia and who initially started the family business, now lives in Greece.