[MGSA-L] Bakoyannis: Diaspora should vote

[June Samaras]

http://neoskosmos.com/news/en/bakoyannis-diaspora-should-vote

Bakoyannis: Diaspora should vote

6 Jan 2014
KOSTAS KARAMARKOS
The Hellenic Diaspora has to obtain the right to vote in Greece and has to
be able to elect its own representatives in the Greek Parliament according
to former Foreign Minister of Greece Dora Bakoyannis, who spoke to Neos
Kosmos during her private visit in Melbourne this week.

Bakoyannis, the daughter of former conservative Prime Minister of Greece
Konstantinos Mitsotakis, was the first female mayor of Athens. She was also
a contender for the leadership of the governing conservative New Democracy
(ND) party in November 2009. Ms Bakoyannis is currently an MP for ND.
During her visit to Melbourne she also stated her support for the Diaspora
to pay lower taxes for its assets in Greece, whilst at the same time
expressing her surprise, even though "progress has been made" as she said,
about the fact that the negotiations between Australia and Greece for the
working holiday visa have not been completed.

"As a modern European country Greece is obliged to give the voting right to
its citizens who live abroad.
The voting right should be given to the Greeks of the Diaspora who retain
the Greek citizenship, and they should also have the right to elect their
own representatives in the electorate regions where they live", Bakoyianni
said.
For the issue of taxing Greeks living abroad she stated that: "It is not
possible to avoid taxing the Greek of the Diaspora who has economic
interests in Greece. Perhaps we should examine where and how we can
alleviate the tax burden of the expatriate, in order to retain and to
strengthen his link with Greece and in order to encourage him to invest or
to establish a business in Greece"

Talking to Kostas Nikolopoulos, deputy editor of Neos Kosmos, Ms Bakoyannis
was optimistic about the future of the Greek economy and said that recovery
will come to Greece in the second half of 2014, but this means that the
average citizen will not be able to see its results until a later time.

"The government of Antonis Samaras is the only government that can get
Greece out of the crisis and secure its future", she said. In an interview
to the Greek Program on SBS radio, Dora Bakoyiannis said that "Greece today
is an ideal place for anyone to invest".

The prominent MP from Greece met this week in Melbourne with Nick Kotsiras,
Victoria's Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship and Minister
for Energy and Resources and discussed the current state of Affairs in
Greece, in the economic and political front.
Both Mr Kotsiras and Ms Bakoyiannis expressed their deep concerns over the
popularity of the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, and stressed the need
for Greek Australians to promote Greece as a holiday destination for
Australians wishing to holiday in Europe.
The former Foreign Minister of Greece during her Melbourne visit stated her
admiration for the harmonic multicultural society of Australia as well as
for the achievements of the Greek community in this country.


-- 
June Samaras
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : june.samaras at gmail.com
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