STEFANOS TAMVAKIS NEW PRESIDENT of SAE.

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Stefanos Tamvakis, from Alexandria, was elected as the new president of the World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE), during the sessions of its 6th World Convention, in Thessaloniki, Macedonia.

Stefanos Tamvakis in the second round of the elections for a new SAE president garnered 238 votes (55.74 per cent), against 189 votes (44.26 per cent) for Christos Tomaras, from Chicago.

Olga Sarantopoulou, from Vienna, was elected Secretary and Costas Dimitriou, from Cologne, Treasurer. Philip Christopher, from New York, was elected Vice President, representing the overseas Cypriot organizations POMAK and PSEKA.

More than five hundred delegates of Hellenes abroad gathered in Thessaloniki for the 6th World Conference.

Addressing the opening session of the conference on Friday, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said Greeks living abroad will be able to vote in the general elections to take place in Greece after the next general elections due by March 2008, and voting will be based on the European Parliament election model.

The prime minister stated that those eligible to vote will be all Greeks living abroad who are registered voters, adding that those living in other countries will be able to vote for candidates in the electoral districts they were registered.

He reiterated that legislation executing article 51 of the Greek Constitution, which guarantees Greek expatriates the right to vote, will be tabled in Parliament before the end of the current government’s term in office.

In comments to reporters in Athens, alternate government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros stressed that the prime minister's commitment deepened democracy and responded to a long-standing demand of Greeks throughout the world.

The spokesman also noted that the government was seeking to strengthen institutions and did not intend to take anyone by surprise, pointing out that the measures were included in the Constitution but that the previous government had failed to pass a law to execute them.

He also reiterated that the details of the measure needed to be carefully worked out and that this required time, since there were major problems to be resolved.

According to Karamanlis, the SAE convention sent out a message of "national unity and accord of the Greeks of the world", while he called the 6th convention "a landmark in the organization's history".

"With the experience of the efforts made over the 11 years, by using the relevant law executing the Constitution and, above all, with the expressed will, contribution and joint action of all the political forces in the country we can now proceed more strongly," he stressed.

The prime minister also pointed out that the coming years would be very important for the future of Greeks throughout the world, since the original generation of emigrants would now have to hand over the reins to the next generations born and raised abroad.

"We all realise that the needs and life experiences of the emigrants in the '30s, '50s and '60s are very different to the needs today of the grandchildren and great grandchildren of those that left back then. The world has changed and is still changing at an unprecedented pace. The technological leaps taking place in our age have eliminated distances," he said.

According to the premier, these new technologies and the opportunities for communication that they created provided new tools, not just for preserving the ties between Greece and its expatriates but for actually making them closer and stronger.

Main opposition Panhellenic Socialist Party (PASOK) leader George Papandreou on Saturday hailed the contribution of overseas Greeks and at the same time criticised Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis for his initiative to ratify legislatively the right of vote to overseas Greeks, not from the next but the following general elections.

Addressing the 6th World Convention of the World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE), Papandreou underlined that PASOK never viewed the overseas Greeks as "remittances or exchange, it views them as a creative force of changes and a great force for the issues of Hellenism."

The PASOK leader criticised Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, saying that "he did not conduct a dialogue with the parties and organisations" of overseas Greeks on their right to vote, noting that "what he said at the SAE Convention created greater confusion rather than clarifying matters."

He added:"It has not been clarified who will vote, where and how. We heard nothing about the letter vote. Others speak of 1.5 million voters and others of 100,000."

President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias, Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis and Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology party president Alekos Alavanos all addressed the first day of the 6th World Convention.

All the speakers stressed the importance of preserving unity and close ties between Greeks throughout the world in order to ensure that Greece maintained a strong presence on the international scene, while the prime minister also announced plans to pass legislation executing the Constitution that would give Greeks living abroad the right to vote in general elections.

President Papoulias additionally noted that the SAE's contribution in achieving the goal of unity among the world's Greeks could be decisive in this effort, and that Greeks abroad were a bridge of friendship and cooperation between their new countries and Greece, helping to serve its foreign policy interests with great efficiency.

The meeting was also addressed by Alavanos, who criticised the premier for announcing plans to give Greeks abroad the right to vote before having heard their own proposals and stressed the need for the SAE to be autonomous of the government, parties and the Church.

Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) leader George Karatzaferis, proposed a "Parliament" of overseas Greeks and allowing the diaspora to elect 12 MPs to the Greek Parliament from among their numbers, while calling on the parties to promise to place an overseas Greek at the head of their state deputy list in the next general elections.

A message to the convention from Communist Party of Greece (KKE) General Secretary Aleka Papariga was read out by KKE MP Nikos Gatzis.

Greek Foreign Minister, Dora Bakoyannis, underlined the significant role that could be portrayed by ethnic Greeks around the world while also stressing the advantageous role portrayed by Hellenism abroad with its dynamic presence.

The Greek state, she noted with the support of all of the country’s political forces, has decided to carry out the institutional upgrading of cooperation between the National Centre and Greeks abroad, as well as – and mainly – of Hellenism abroad itself.

Mrs. Backoyiannis noted that it was of decisive importance that the CHA gained Constitutional recognition in the most recent revision of the Hellenic Constitution. In article 108, the Hellenic Constitution renders the CHA an advisory body to the Greek state, whose mission is the expression of all communities of Hellenes across the world.

The Greek Foreign Minister underlined that the enhancement and promotion of collaboration is high among Greece’ s priorities in wanting to support the dynamic being developed by the Hellenic diaspora wile she also expressed the interest in broadening the horizons and prospects and strengthen its position in the communities where is resides and creates.

The Foreign Ministry, announced Mrs. Backoyiannis, in cooperation with the competent agencies, is planning a series of actions that will be implemented in cooperation with the CHA, organizations of Hellenes abroad, and, naturally, with the support of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Ancient Patriarchates and Orthodox Churches around the world.

She also expressed deep gratitude to the outgoing President of the CHA, Andrew Athens, who has dedicated his life to the Hellenic diaspora.

Mr. Athens will be President Emeritus of SAE, while he will continue his charitable work as chairman of Hellenicare, an organization serving Greeks leaving in the formes Soviet Union and Albania.

CHURCH LEADERS

Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos urged constant unity and harmony in views, decisions and actions, in a message to the 6th Convention of the World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE) that was read out at the convention by Metropolital Michail of Austria.

Jerusalem Patrarch Theofilos, in his greeting, said that the today, more than ever, the rallying of the Greeks abroad around the Church was necessary in order to neutralise the dangers of assimilation of the Greek element in the big cultural melting pots of the world of globalisation, while a greeting by Patriarch Theodoros of Alexandria stressed the need for the continuation of his Patriarchate's work and its moral and material support.

In another greeting, Archbishop Chrisotodoulos called on Greeks abroad to keep their faith in God, preserve the institution of the family, to not forget the Greek language, and to continue being benefactors.

Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus' message contained references to the Cyprus issue, and called on Greeks all over the world to work towards transforming not only the public opinion but also that of the governments in which they lived, adding that this would be the greatest contribution to the struggle of the Cypriot people.

 

Source : greeknewsonline.com