The recent public intervention by the Founding Council of the Hellenic Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HACCI) National Federation was another one with a focus on the restrictive prerequisites set by the Greek state to the Greek diasporas in general, and to the Greek Australians in particular, to exercise their voting rights in the upcoming May 21st parliamentary elections in Greece.
There is an inherent bias in this discussion that bureaucratic obstacles on their own have led to this outcome, and not voter apathy, but this argument is not evidence based and thus lacks coherence.
The Greek political parties may talk about brain gain with long-winded statements but the sad truth is that a new wave of immigration is on the rise in Greece based on the findings of a survey by the Heinrich Bell Foundation and KAPA Research, following an estimated 500,000 people moving abroad during the financial crisis as a result of policy failures by the political elite.
It is a bold decision to leave one’s homeland by cutting the Gordian knot in more ways than one, including severing the ties with the Greek political landscape. Thus the voter apathy by the diaspora which is evidenced by the recent announcement of the elections to be held on May 21 needs to be addressed in a holistic and professional way by considering that absenteeism from casting a vote is also a dignified choice, a democratic choice, a method of practical criticism and exerting pressure on a pseudo-authority and its pretentious pursuit of the development and rise of truly democratic institutions.
If we feel that the Greek bureaucracy has contributed to this result , then as a diaspora we ought to address our “scathing” criticism on all aspects of bureaucracy that have been created by Greek governments .
In this context, and far more importantly, the Founding Council ought to provide constructive criticism on all clientelist economic reforms in Greece that lead to corruption and lack of economic freedom. The 2020 Pissarides Commission report could act as a point of reference, written by four distinguished academic economists headed by the Nobel Laureate, LSE economist, Chris Pissarides.
The report examined the main characteristics and trends of the Greek economy, from a national and a global perspective, and made policy recommendations for its sustainable recovery, without the imbalances, distortions and fiscal policy lapses that had led to the 2009 financial crisis.
According to the Centre of Liberal Studies, the present government has implemented or initiated implementation of more than half of the report proposals to this date. It will suffice to say that the recommendations were mostly general and open to the interpretation of policy-makers that developed and rolled out the reforms, but not without putting heavy emphasis on avoiding the “political cost” involved.
As a Greek-Australian diaspora we also need to be able to make a contribution to this debate and provide suggestions for policy reforms that derive from our experiences in this country.
Steve Bakalis is a HACCI (Vic) Life Member
