Rita Manessis’ Melbourne based home was targeted in what has been labelled as a ‘disgusting’ graffiti attack over her support for Palestine.
According to 7News, the 53-year-old’s Templestowe property was spray-painted on Thursday night with swastika symbols alongside statements such as “death to Palestine.”
Greek-Australian, Manessis, who is not Musilm, expressed she believed the attack was a response to her public campaigning aimed at ending Israel’s war in Gaza.
Anti-Palestine graffiti outside the home of Rita Manessis in Melbourne’s north-east. Photo: ISLAMOPHOBIA REGISTER.Palestinian solidarity rally in Melbourne, February 2023. Photo: Matt Hrkac/Alamy Live News.
Manessis said the incident was “not surprising” in context with other attacks on pro-Palestinian supporters in Australia and internationally.
“I have a sticker on my car, a free Palestine sticker in my window by my door … people who walk up and down and are peering inside might spot it”, Manessis said.
“I also walk around with my keffiyeh (Palestinian scarf) as a public display of solidarity”.
Victoria Police is investigating the attack and declared, “there is absolutely no place at all in our society for hate-based symbols and behaviour.”
Labor MP Maria Vamvakinou has announced that she will end her political career at the next federal election and has endorsed a prominent member of the Palestinian-Australian community, Basem Abdo to succeed her.
According to The Guardian, the veteran Labor member for Calwell in Melbourne’s outer north-west has informed Australia’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, that she will step down at the upcoming poll due by the middle of 2025.
“I just want to stop and smell the roses,” Vamvakinou, who was first elected in 2001, said on Sunday.
‘The kind of generation we need to reconnect with’ … Labor could preselect Basem Abdo to replace retiring MP Maria Vamvakinou and contest the next federal election. Photo: Basem Abdo/Supplied.
The Greek Australian politician added that she hoped her former adviser Abdo would be preselected to contest Calwell at the next federal poll.
“I am very committed to giving opportunities to a new generation of people who will be able to go forward and reconnect with Labor in what has now become a very diverse and volatile political constituency,” Vamvakinou stated.
“He [Abdo] is the kind of generation now that we need to reconnect with and become relevant to. He is very bright and [I believe he will] make a great contribution.”
While preselection won’t take place until later this year, The Guardian shared that Abdo has strong support within Labor’s socialist wing.
Olympic pole vault champion Katerina Stefanidi secured the silver medal for Greece at the European Athletics Championships in Rome.
Insports.gr reported that Stefanidi scored 4.73m for silver, making this her fifth medal in a European Championship. It was also the twelfth overall in Stefanidi’s tremendous career.
The Greek champion came very close to winning gold medal, however, just lost out to Switzerland’s Angelica Moser (who claimed victory with 4.78m) while the bronze medal went to Molly Caudery.
An initial post-mortem report has revealed that Popular British TV doctor, Michael Mosley likely died of natural causes.
According to Sky News 67-year-old Mosley was found dead on the Greek island of Symi on Sunday, five days after his wife, Dr Clare Bailey reported him missing.
Dr Michael Mosley died of natural causes, an initial post-mortem report has revealed. Photo: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images.
Following a five-day search, the British TV presenter’s body was discovered on Sunday near a fence beside a bar, approximately a 30-minute walk from where he was last seen in Pedi.
The discovery occurred when Greek officials relocated their search operations to a labyrinth of caves known locally as “The Abyss,” which consists of water-filled tunnels.
Mosley’s family confirmed that his body was discovered on rocky terrain about 100 metres from a beach resort, indicating that safety was not far from where he was.
“He did an incredible climb, took the wrong route and collapsed where he couldn’t be easily seen by the extensive search team,” Mosley’s wife, Clare Bailey said.
“We had an incredibly lucky life together. We loved each other very much and were so happy together.”
The European Parliament elections concluded with none of the big three parties reaching their stated goals, although all may try to spin a positive narrative from the results.
What is beyond dispute is the very low turnout: at nearly 90% of precincts reporting, it is currently 40.55%, nearly 18 percentage points below that of the last European election, in May 2019 (58.69%).
The European Parliament elections concluded with a clear victory for New Democracy (ND) and a second-place hold for SYRIZA, amidst the ongoing decline of PASOK in the Attica region, according to official results.
Far-right parties significantly increased their share of the vote, even as one of them, the Spartiates (Spartans), was barred from contesting the election.
Elliniki Lysi is seen getting 9.5% of the vote, up from 4.18% in 2019, the ultra-religious Niki was on 4.4% and Foni tis Logikis (3.05%) is just above the threshold required to elect an MEP. The Communist Party (9.3% from 5.35% in 2019) also declared itself satisfied, even though it lost the fourth place. SYRIZA dissidents New Left were below 3% and were talking about a “crisis in the political system.”
Based on the final estimation of the election results provided by Singular Logic’s CEO, Dimitris Bakakos, covering 90% of the precincts nationwide, a total of 7 parties will secure seats in the European Parliament.
According to the final estimation of the Ministry of Interior for the European Parliament election results:
Nea Dimokratia (ND): 27.86%
SYRIZA: 14.93%
PASOK: 12.9%
Elliniki Lysi: 9.5%
KKE: 9.3%
Niki: 4.4%
Pleusi Elefherias: 3.4%
Mr Bakakos emphasised that postal votes could potentially alter the percentages, leading to a change in positions between the Communist Party (KKE) and Elliniki Lysi.
Mitsotakis: “We did not reach our goal“
PM says ruling party did not reach goal it had set. Photo: Ekathimerini.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Sunday admitted that the ruling Conservatives fell short of the target set by himself before the European Elections, citing a record abstention and protest vote as possible causes.
In the last exit poll published by the Ministry of Interior, New Democracy is seen securing 27.9% of the vote, five percentage points below the intended 33%.
“I will not hide the truth. Our party did not reach the goal we had set. Nor am I interested in arguments such as that the difference with the second party is the biggest in the history of the European elections. We knew from the beginning that this election would be very difficult. Citizens who supported us in 2023 knew that now they were not electing a government and, perhaps faced this battle differently,” he said in a recorded message late Sunday night.
“There were also many voters who wanted to protest about issues that concern their daily lives, mainly inflation…I hear their voice and their demand and I hear it loud. ‘We trust you, but try harder.’ And that’s what we’re going to do,” he added.
“These elections are the starting point of a new path towards 2027,” he said and pledged to focus on everyday issues affecting Greeks.
At least six Australians of Greek heritage in the areas of community and public service have been recognised today in the King’s Birthday 2024 Honours List.
Here is The Greek Herald’s list of who has been recognised.
MEMBER (OAM) IN THE GENERAL DIVISION
Effie Bacalakis OAM, Queensland
Effie Bacalakis.
Effie Bacalakis OAM has been recognised for her service to the community of the Cairns region in Queensland.
At St John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Parish in Cairns, Mrs Bacalakis was an Executive Member, including serving as Chair and Secretary, Fundraising Committee, 1993-mid 2010s; Foundation Member; Honorary Treasurer, Philoptohos Society, 1990s; Fundraiser, Redlynch Day Care and Early Childhood Development Centre, since mid-1990s; and Donor, Construction of Church, early 1990s.
Mrs Bacalakis has been a Manager at St John’s Community Care (2011-2015) and a Field Officer / Coordinator (1999 – 2011). At Gordonvale Community Care, she was a Founding Committee Member (2000), and she (along with her husband) also donated a block of land, Meringa, to establish a respite centre.
Generally, Mrs Bacalakis has been a Coordinator of the Cairns Greek Multicultural Festival since 1993; a founder of the Greek Language School and Dance Group; and a Member / Dance Teacher at Cairns Greek Cultural Club.
Recognitions include the Gold Cross of St Andrew from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia in 2019, and the 20 Years’ Service Certificate from St John’s Community Care.
“It’s very exciting. I’m quite surprised and very humbled. I couldn’t do this without support from the whole community, my husband and children, who encourage me to carry on. This recognition is for them too,” Mrs Bacalakis told The Greek Herald.
Michael Nicholas Litis OAM, Western Australia
Michael Nicholas Litis OAM has been recognised for service to the community through sports organisations.
At the Hellenic Lawn Bowling Club of the Castellorizian Association of WA, Mr Litis has demonstrated extensive leadership and dedication. Serving as President for six years, Mr Litis also previously held the positions of Secretary for 14 years and Treasurer. Over a remarkable 30-year span as an Executive Member, Mr Litis has also been the Convenor of Corporate Bowls fundraising events since 2008 and edited two editions of History of the Hellenic Bowling Club. His commitment to the club is further highlighted by his membership since 1992 and being honoured as a Life Member in 2006.
In the Hellenic Football Club, Mr Litis served as Captain in 1967 and 1968, contributed to the Executive Committee for ten years, and earned the distinction of Life Member.
At the Karoonda Junior Football Club, Mr Litis’ roles included being an Executive Committee Member from 1980 to 1989, a former Manager for seven years, as well as a Coach and Runner. His long-standing service was recognised with a Life Membership in 1989.
Mr Litis’ involvement with the Royal Perth Golf Club spans five decades as a member, with five years on the Committee and serving as Chair of the Volunteer Beautification Group from 2001 to 2010.
In addition to these commitments, Mr Litis has contributed as a former General Committee Member of East Fremantle Junior Football, served on the Board of Osborne Park Bowling Club from 2005 to 2007, and has been listed on the Honour Board of the Western Australian Veteran Golfers Association in 2006. Mr Litis has been a member of Lake Karrinyup Golf Club since 2003 and is the Founder, Convenor, and Former Sponsor of the Hellenic Golf Day, established in 1994.
Dimitra Micos OAM, New South Wales
Dimitra Micos.
Dimitra Micos OAM has been recognised for service to the Greek community of Sydney.
Ms Micos has been an active volunteer in the Greek community since 1986, contributing her time and effort to the Greek Welfare Centre at Newtown and Saint Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church. She has served as a mentor at the Greek Orthodox Church of St George since 2006 and has been the Convenor of the Greek Women’s Olympic Choir in 2000 and 2004. Additionally, she was a Committee Member at the Welfare Centre of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia in 1997.
At the Hellenic Lyceum of Sydney, she holds the position of Second Vice-President and has been a dedicated volunteer since 1983.
Ms Micos has also played a significant role at Saint Spyridon College, where she was the Vice-President of the Management Committee in the mid-1980s and a founding member of the Management Committee since 1983.
“I didn’t expect this,” she told The Greek Herald. “What I do, I do out of the depth of my heart, I expect no recognition for it. Thank God and the church, I didn’t expect this.”
AUSTRALIAN POLICE MEDAL
Detective Senior Sergeant Angela Hantsis – Victoria Police
Detective Senior Sergeant Angela Hantsis has devoted her working life to solving some of the most complex and intriguing criminal cases in recent Victoria Police history, including cold case murders, armed robberies and sex crimes. Detective Senior Sergeant Hantsis served with distinction on taskforces, including Taskforce Briars which conducted the investigation into alleged involvement of police in the murder of a Victorian man, Taskforce Phoenix which conducted the investigation into the 2009 Victorian bushfires, and the Purana Taskforce which conducted the investigation into the infamous gangland murders in Melbourne.
In 2010, Detective Senior Sergeant Hantsis was only the second female police officer in Victoria Police to successfully complete the Level 4 – Australasian Human Source Management Course. She utilised her training and skills to recruit, manage and deploy high-risk human sources, managing significant operational risks which led to the successful prosecution of a number of complex crimes.
In 2014, Detective Senior Sergeant Hantsis was appointed to the Missing Persons Squad, where investigations are particularly complex and demanding in the serious crime environment. Undertaking these investigations requires a special skill set, not only in crime investigation, but also emotional and physical resilience, all qualities Detective Senior Sergeant Hantsis embodies.
As a senior sergeant at the St Kilda Police Station, she worked with both government and non-government organisations, social workers, health providers, local government, counselling services and housing providers to address complex needs that surround street level drug use and sex work in order to reduce harm to individuals and the local community.
Assistant Commissioner Arlene Mavratsou – Western Australia Police Force
Assistant Commissioner Arlene Mavratsou.
Assistant Commissioner Arlene Mavratsou joined the Western Australia Police Force in 2020 after serving other law enforcement intelligence services across Australia and United States. She was promoted to the rank of assistant commissioner and was the first public servant appointed by the Governor to a commissioned officer rank in Western Australia.
She has had a profound impact on law enforcement and tactical intelligence, overseeing both day to day operations and long-term policing objectives, whilst consistently contributing to agency and government priorities to enhance community safety and effective law enforcement outcomes both nationally and internationally.
Assistant Commissioner Mavratsou is an accomplished leader which is evident in many of her key achievements, such as leading the design and implementation of the agency’s new intelligence and data analytics functions. Her vision embedded a tactical intelligence culture focused on “working better together” applying the Identify, Locate Associate (ILA) principles.
She consistently demonstrates her ability to achieve outstanding results through strategic initiatives, leading the intelligence and data reform for the agency, designing and delivering ILA training courses effectively demonstrating the value of intelligence within law enforcement. She has also enhanced the capability within Rapid High Harm Offender Response teams across the state by embedding tactical intelligence analysts within multi-disciplinary operational teams, resulting in significant volume crime reductions.
Other notable accomplishments include implementing new frontline operational technological solutions providing modern crime solving tools and equipment to assist the frontline. These have since played crucial roles in helping to solve many high-profile crimes and historical cases.
EMERGENCY SERVICES MEDAL
Jim Kokkalos – Victoria State Emergency Service
Mr Jim Kokkalos has tirelessly supported and contributed to the Victoria State Emergency Service (VICSES) for over 33 years, not only as a dedicated volunteer but leader within the VICSES Port Phillip Unit (the Unit) (formerly St Kilda Unit) and surrounding units.
Mr Kokkalos has always placed VICSES as a high priority in his life, at times he has made personal sacrifices to ensure his unit is ready to respond to emergencies 24 hours a day, seven days a week. His continual sacrifice of personal time is over and above what is expected of a volunteer.
Mr Kokkalos has displayed exemplified leadership, direction, emotional guidance and support to others in many local events, for example, as a field commander for the Melbourne Grand Prix (1996-2015), as well as assisting with operational support to many regions in Victoria for fires, floods and storms.
Mr Kokkalos’ is dedicated to serving the community, taking time off from work to ensure he is able to assist during large disasters and operations across Victoria on many occasions. Prominent examples of these operations would be the 2010 and 2012 Melbourne hailstorms and all flood and major fire events in Victoria for over 25 years. His dedication and commitment towards his chosen field of assisting the Victorian community in times of need, shows the passion that is well respected amongst his peers and regional staff.
Mr Kokkalos has been the key leader and driver in moving the Unit to a thriving community-based organisation, managing relationships with other emergency services and local community groups. This dedication has ensured the Unit is a robust emergency service able to provide emergency response around the clock. Without his persistence and dedication, it would not be the outstanding Unit that it is today.
*Please note: If you believe you should be on this list of recognised Greek Australians, please send an email to info@foreignlanguage.com.au.
Australia’s beloved movie, Strictly Ballroom, might get a sequel if director Baz Luhrmann is on board, according to actor Gia Carides, as she stated in an interview with the Advertiser.
With a sequel to The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in the works, Carides sees potential for Strictly Ballroom to return, expressing her excitement at the prospect. “I would be thrilled,” she says. “But whether Baz wants to do it is another question.”
“I’m shocked they can recognise me because I was platinum-blonde with blue contact lenses in that film. But they do completely recognise me because they love the movie, and they love to tell me. So that’s always a joy to hear. Never gets old,” she said in the interview.
The timeless appeal of Liz Holt, her twirling alter ego, is also a reminder of Carides’ sustained acting success as she approaches her 60th birthday.
According to the Advertiser, Carides who is currently starring in the ABC’s comedy Austin, reflected on her career’s longevity and the increasing opportunities for older women in entertainment.
In Austin, Carides plays Mel Hogan, the protective mother of Austin (Michael Theo), a neurodivergent man who suddenly turns up in the life of beloved British children’s book author Julian Hartswood (Ben Miller) as the son he never knew existed.
Born into an entertainment-loving Greek and English household, Carides and her older sister Zoe, who is also an actor, discovered their love of performing early, leading to more than five decades of acting success between them, while their younger sister, Danielle, pursued a career in music as a singer-songwriter.
In 2023, an exhibition entitled “Dionysios Solomos… Two Flames… Manolis Charos” was staged in Athens and then in Kefalonia in a stunning artistic tribute to Greece’s national poet, Dionysios Solomos.
The exhibition featured mixed media artworks by the acclaimed Kytherian painter and engraver, Manolis Charos, who was inspired by the legendary Solomos’ writings and his poetry of revolutionary Romanticism, together with manuscripts and rare editions, periodicals, letters and translated texts from the collections of the Gennadius Library, the National Library, the Ionian Academy, the Academy of Athens and the Museum of Solomos and Eminent Zakynthians.
Dionysios Solomos, was born in Zakynthos (then known as Zante) in 1798. He went to Italy to study and then returned to Zakynthos before settling in Corfu where he lived until his death in 1857. He was influenced by his Italian upbringing but was persuaded on his return to write poetry and satire using demotic (or spoken) Greek.
In 1821, the Greek struggle for independence from the Ottoman Empire began in earnest and the revolutionary fervor that spread through Europe also inspired poets and artists both in England on the continent.
In 1823, Solomos was following the course of the revolutionary struggle. A writer and historian, Spyridon Trikoupis was passing through Zante on his way to Corfu and challenged the young poet to write a poem in Greek to celebrate some of the Greeks’ early successes. Solomos responded with his epic poem, Hymn to Liberty, the first two stanzas of which went on to become the Greek national anthem composed by Nicholas Mantzaros, a Corfiot musician and also a friend of Solomos. The words powerfully invoked the personified image of Liberty, reborn and renewed out of “the sacred bones of the Greeks.”
Manolis Charos was born in Kythera in 1960. He grew up in Athens and in 1977 went to Paris to study painting and printmaking and later attained postgraduate honours in visual communication. Apart from Athens, he has held individual exhibitions in Thessaloniki, Paris, Bologna and London. His works are represented in significant private collections in Greece, France, Germany, Italy, the USA, as well as in public museum collections both in Greece and abroad.
Charos traditionally uses various media and materials, with an emphasis on the poetic use of colour. He often paints scenes alluding to myths.
In the “Two Flames” exhibition the artist is in a visual dialogue with the poetic work of Dionysios Solomos, with the dark blues and the fiery oranges and reds overwhelming the eye, reflecting through flowing compositions the raging sea and the storm, the night sky, the flames, the tension from past revolutions and tragic events of our age.
In 1824, Solomos had composed The Dialogue, his treatise on the Greek language and its inextricable relationship with the spoken language of the people as opposed to the formal katharevousa, in which he urged: “firstly succumb to the language of the people and then, if you are worthy, conquer it.”
Manolis Charos reinvigorates the Dialogue through his art and indeed this poem was his main inspiration for the exhibition because, according to the Kytherian-born artist, Solomos’ poetry shaped the identity of all of us, given that at the time the Greek nation was created as an idea and existed only through its language. The National Poet of Greece had managed to capture the identity of the nation through the concept of freedom that people were fighting for.
The “two flames” symbolise the heart and mind with which the poet approaches the world. The flames, the moon and the sea became the word-images that guide Manolis Charos in his visual engagement with the lyricism of Solomos, and with freedom and language.
As the director of the Gennadius Library and curator of the exhibition, Maria Georgopoulou, wrote in the catalogue to the exhibition: “The revolutionary romance of Charos meets Solomos, but it is not a simple illustration of the text… With the visual eye, the revolutionary power of language, the debate on personal and collective identity and the flame of inspiration transmuted into creation that speaks directly to the soul in the present time.”
The Shade of Homer: “The moon shone dimly – peace made all, all of nature still”
The other outstanding work was even more poignant.
In 1833, Solomos wrote, O Kritikos (The Cretan), which is the story of a shipwreck of a group of distressed refuges from Crete in 1826 during the Greek War of Independence during which the Cretan survivor vainly tries to save his beloved from the tempest.
A central point in the work is the apparition of an oracle, the Φεγγαροντυμένη (or ‘moon-clad woman’) who according to David Ricks, Emeritus Professor of Modern Greek and Comparative Literature, is none other than the immortal soul of his beloved, which briefly lingers above her lifeless body to bid him farewell before ascending to heaven:
“I looked, and still far distant was the shore.
‘Blest thunderbolt, give light, I pray, once more!
And now at last the shore. I laid her head
Upon the strand with joy, but she was dead.”
Stormy sea. Thunderbolts. Love and Death made divine.
On the evening of October 5, 2022 , Manolis Charos was on Kythera when, together with other residents of the island, he learned that a hapless boat carrying Afghan refugees had crashed onto steep rocks on the eastern side of the island and sank. He immediately rushed to the scene where he saw images of an indescribable tragedy in the midst of dramatic rescue efforts on a precarious cliff by the locals.
According to Manolis Charos, his mind went straight to the poem O Kritikos: “It was revelatory for me because I also realised that issues such as refugees, love, the drama of the person who loses the other half is as ‘old’ as today and tomorrow … When I found myself in front of the cliff in Kythera, I realised that I am living the “Cretan”.
Solomos’ test, dealing with the maelstrom of war, the difficulties of refugees and the loss of humanity, is transformed into militant art: a protest, a mirror of a real nightmare, the collective truth of the tragedy of refugees when the intensity of the sea and the watery elements extinguishes human lives.
Indeed, in one of the showcases one can see a small tribute to the great, albeit unfinished, poem of Solomos: “I’m hanging deep on a cliff, and I’m standing alone.”
Other works of the painter, of mixed technique, emphasise the revolutionary character of Solomos, including a painting, as if part of a giant poster, that preaches fragmentarily “Freedom or Death”.
The former President of the Hellenic Republic, Prokopios Pavlopoulos, in hismessage of greetings delivered at the opening of the exhibition in Kefalonia, spoke of Manolis Charos’ “osmosis” with the spiritual heritage and revolutionary romanticism of Dionysios Solomos and praised the artist for how his paintings embody the vastness of the sea in all its manifestations and expressions, from serenity to storm and with the almost always present Moon, and the resultant “explosion” of colours.
Despite the 200 years that separate the text of Dionysios Solomos from Manolis Charos’ art, the Eptanesian revolutionary spirit (emerging through a poet from Zante and later Corfu, to an artist from Kythera and an exhibition opened in Athens but crowned in Kefalonia) still prevails today.
LAMDA Development, the company behind the iconic The Ellinikon project, has been named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential companies in the world for 2024. It is the only Greek company to make the list this year.
According to amna.gr, in their statement, LAMDA Development expressed that being included in the “TIME 100 Most Influential Companies” list for 2024 is an honor that reaffirms their dedication to creating innovative projects that benefit Greece and its people. The Ellinikon project, touted as the largest urban regeneration project in Europe and situated along the Athens Riviera, is gaining international recognition and enhancing Greece’s global reputation.
The Riviera Tower will be the tallest building in Greece and is the coastal front of Lamda Development’s Ellinikon development.
The “TIME100 Most Influential Companies” list for 2024 highlights the top 100 companies worldwide across all sectors, selected based on their innovation, leadership, and societal contributions. To compile the list, Time magazine evaluated candidate companies from various sectors through its global network of contributors and correspondents, as well as independent specialists.
Two days before the crucial European elections on June 9th, which will determine the future of Europe and Greece’s influence in the decision-making centres of Brussels for the next five years, Greek Government Spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis spoke to The Greek Herald.
Mr Marinakis discussed the work accomplished by New Democracy since taking over the governance of the country in 2019 to improve the daily lives of citizens in Metropolitan Greece, and the establishment of a mutual relationship of sincerity and trust with the Greek diaspora.
According to him, much has been achieved in recent years, but there is still a long way to go, and everyone must safeguard what has been painstakingly built for Greeks worldwide. Additionally, the future of the Greek diaspora needs to be planned, with stronger ties to the motherland and a stronger voice.
Statement of Greece’s Government Spokesman, Pavlos Marinakis
“In the first year of the second term of Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ government, we proved that we can implement the bold plan we committed to the Greek citizens. Already in the first year, we took significant steps forward. In our responsibility towards the citizens, we responded effectively. Implementing important reforms that protect our economy, and initiatives that aim to mitigate the consequences of external crises and improve the daily lives of citizens in Greece. At the same time, we sought and established a mutual relationship of sincerity and trust with the Greek diaspora, bringing Greeks of the diaspora closer to the homeland, empowering the voices of Greeks wherever they are.
24.9% of postal votes for the European elections are from Greeks living abroad.
We set an example from the first bill of the Government by permanently removing all restrictions on the exercise of the voting right for expatriates registered in the electoral rolls. We went a step further by instituting postal voting, a new institutional tool that allows expatriates to decide easily and quickly, without cost, about the present and future of our country from wherever they live, work, and prosper. By facilitating the vote of expatriates, we deepen our democracy and simultaneously root a new relationship of reciprocity between the metropolitan centre and Greeks abroad. A relationship with those we honour in practice, by developing and implementing a modern and coherent political plan for the Greek diaspora, fully reflecting the Government’s vision.
We are modernising services for the Greek diaspora through the use of new technologies on the gov.gr website, making all relevant services easily accessible. We are creating new applications, such as the multilingual ‘Digital Assistant’ mAigov, which ‘converses’ with citizens in 25 languages, the ‘Virtual Assistant’ service on the websites of all our Embassies and Consulates, and the ability to be served through video conference (MyConsulLive) for various requests.
In recent years, we have achieved a lot, and there are still many steps to take. However, nothing should be taken for granted. We must safeguard what has been painstakingly built in recent times for Greeks worldwide and plan for the future of the Greek diaspora with stronger ties to the motherland and a stronger voice. After all, the Greek diaspora have significant representation among the candidates for MEPs with people who have proven themselves and have fought for Greece and their fellow citizens. That is why the European elections on the 9th of June are crucial. Because the day after the elections, no one should be able to question the political stability that will allow us to take even bolder steps. And because Greece must be stronger in Europe, where crucial decisions are made on major issues that concern us: immigration, climate change, common foreign policy, and the defence of Europe. And for the voice of Greeks to be strong in Europe, the voice of New Democracy in the European elections must be even stronger. Ultimately, a strong New Democracy in the European elections means a strong Greece in Europe.”
