Dora Bakoyannis, leader of the Democratic Alliance party in Greece, has appealed to the Greek Australian community to lend its support to their county of origin.
The former New Democracy minister who was expelled from ND in 2010, told The Australian Financial Review this week that the experience of Australia’s Greek community showed that Greece could find solutions to its problems and pay its debts.
“Greece is a country that deserves the support of its friends and in Australia we have many,” said Bakoyannis from Athens, as she followed the discussions to form Greece’s new government of national unity.
“The Australian case shows to our friends that the problem is not our DNA but the way that this country was run. If you look at Australia you see you have a Greek minority… an honest one, a prosperous one who pays taxes.
“Yet practically the same Greeks in Greece fail. They fail because we built a state which was mismanaging everything.”
Bakoyannis served as foreign minister between 2006 and 2009, narrowly losing the leadership contest after New Democracy was ousted by Pasok in September 2009.
Her expulsion from ND came in May last year when she crossed the floor to vote with Pasok in order to pass the first round of austerity measures.
She remains a staunch advocate for the medicine the Greek economy needs to re-establish its health, if the austerity is shared out fairly.
“We must understand that for the few years to come, the decision-making will be a common decision between everybody who lends us the money,” the former minister told the Australian press.