SOURCE: Aegina Portal At eight o’clock on 14th June in the auditorium of the First Primary School of Aegina an interesting function was held entitled “European Union and the Future”. The aim of the function was to examine present prospects for the European Union and discuss them, following the recent elections. Organized by the Aegina Association of Active Citizens, the function was introduced and moderated by Mr. Stratos Pantavos. The speakers were William Mallinson, professor in Political Ideas and Institutions at the Guglielmo Marconi University in Italy, the journalist Vasso Kanellopoulou and Nikos Vakolidis, founding member of Greek section of the international defence group for Julian Assange Unity4j. Stratos Pantavos: Good evening. Thank you HP, the president of the Association of Active Citizens, who launched today’s talks and meeting, on a subject in which the Active Citizens have been very much involved in recent years, the subject of Europe, Greece’s entry into Europe, our relations as citizens with Europe, and the future of Europe, concern about Europe, are something that we have been engaged with for a very long time, starting from what seems distant now, 2008, when we organized the very significant day-conference entitled “Capodistrias Spinelli Europe“, a very … Continue reading
Category Archives: European Integration / Democracy
Hellenic American Democratic Association Speakers: 1. Wayne Hall (Direct Democracy) 2. John Lewis (Electronic) 3. Karen Lee (Representative) The discussion took place at the Athens Center, Pangrati in Athens, on September 21st 2015. … Continue reading
Dear Yanis Varoufakis, For five months, you have personified the hopes of many European citizens. You have brought a wind of intellectual rigor and honesty in the circle of gray men of the Eurogroup. You tried tenaciously to respect the mandate of Greek voters: breaking up with the austerity policies while remaining within the euro area. But late June, the zombies of the Eurogroup and the Council, reinforced by the isolation of Greece and weak solidarity movements in Europe, sent you an ultimatum: submit or leave the euro. The victory of the “no” in the July 5th referendum had reinforced your legitimacy to refuse the diktat of creditors. On July 13th you revealed |1| the proposal you made to Alexis Tsipras on the night of the referendum, “a triptych of actions” to avoid submission: “issue IOUs” (acknowledgments of debt in euros, that is to say a complementary currency based on tax revenues), “apply a haircut on Greek bonds” held by the ECB since 2012 in order to reduce the debt, and “take control of the Bank of Greece from the hands of the ECB.” But Alexis Tsipras refused this plan and accepted your resignation. On July 20th, at the Greek Parliament, … Continue reading
As a first (and hopefully not last) step towards an objective discussion of today’s situation of the European Union, outside of the logic of parties, parliamentary and “media” conflict, on 16th July there was, with the compliments of Mr. Paschalis and Mrs. Salomi Melissaris, a screening of an extract from the paper presented in 2009 by Mr. Ioannis Coccalas, entitled “From Altiero Spinelli’s Draft to the Treaty of Lisbon”. As Deputy Director of the European Parliament’s office in Athens, Mr Coccalas was at that time one of the speakers at the “Ioannis Capodistrias, Altiero Spinelli, Europe” conference held on 21st June 2009 in Aegina. An introduction to the 16th July screening was presented by Wayne Hall, member of the steering committee of the Aegina Association of Active Citizens. INTRODUCTION I would like us to be in agreement that in today’s discussion it will not be relevant whether we voted YES or NO in the referendum, whether it is mainly Simitis and Papandreou, Samaras and Venizelos, or Tsipras and Varoufakis who are most to blame for the present situation in Greece. I would like us to agree also that it is not going to be relevant today whether we prefer Greece … Continue reading
Mayor D. Mourtzis: What’s his name? Wayne Hall: Juergen Link. He is a professor of literature. Paschalis Melissaris: He took the initiative along with other university people to compose a text against the misrepresentation of Greeks in relation to what they have already…. W.H.: Essentially it is a protest against the stance of the mass media in Germany and how they reproduce enemy images Mayor: So in the person of Mr. Link we have someone who is a friend and an ally who is interested in our history… W.H.: He is a Philhellene and he started this movement before the elections… P.M.: It isn’t starting now… W.H.: Before the present government came in…. But there is a whole sequence of events after the appeal. An open letter to Mrs. Merkel and other messages to his supporters. For there are around 1,500-1,600 Germans and others supporting the initiative. But it is something that deserves an answer, a response, from Greece. Mayor: Should we invite them to a meeting? W.H.: As you can see…. This letter was written with support from three associations: the Aegina Association of Active Citizens, the Ioannis Capodistrias Cultural Association, the Aegina Women’s Association. Mr. Melissaris corrected the … Continue reading