The government supports the right of expatriates to vote, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos said in an interview given to a daily newspaper of USA diaspora National Herald “Εθνικός Κήρυκας”. This comes ahead of Mr Avramopoulos visit to Chicago, Boston and New York on the occasion of the 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. “The pre-election commitments will be met. At this point, consultation with the jointly-responsible and interlaced services is ongoing, in order to make announcements when the time comes,” said Mr. Avramopoulos, adding that “the participation of Ecumenical Hellenism in Greek foreign policy is important with the criterion and the motivation being a selfless love for their homeland, proper judgment and evaluation of both programs and individuals involved in political system of the country.” “When the time comes, the Greeks expatriates will contribute to the qualitative improvement of the functioning of the political system of the country, in addition to their important contribution to the adoption of more effective and right policies.” When asked when the decision on voting rights for expatriates will be announced, Mr Avramopoulos noted that “these are managed by competent authorities and after the completion of the project, the announcements will be made. It’s not a matter of hours or weeks, it has to do with the completion of a process. After all, what counts is not the time, but the result, as many times in the past such announcements were made but were not complied with. The circumstances for this decision to be made have changed and new technologies can help us. However, the most important is the political will.” The Independent Greeks: The party of Independent Greeks will submit a draft law that would allow expatriates to vote in national elections from their residence, but also to be represented in parliament, the President of the party, Panos Kammenos, said. “At a time when the nation is under attack, the power of Greek people, and especially the powers of diaspora, should be involved in common matters,” Mr. Kammenos said.