GOOD NEWS - Gov't Reorganizing World Council of Greeks Abroad

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The news that the government is presently reorganizing the World Council of Greeks Abroad (SAE) should be viewed as positive, since the former council was more or less non-existent! According to news reports in Athens, we will soon see a new council representing expat Greeks and from what we learn the draft laws are being prepared as we speak and are in public consultation until end of January, 2013.

The good news is that all Greeks who live abroad have an opportunity to share their suggestions and ideas through the website OPEN GOVERNMENT (DIAYGEIA) through the Ministry of Administrative Reform and E-Governance.

Twenty articles compose the group’s agenda for serving Greeks living abroad, aiming for the expression of all powers of Greeks everywhere. Deputy Foreign Minister and responsible for Greeks Abroad, Kostas Tsiaras, said he was satisfied with the result and called all Greeks to participate in the new SAE project.

Opengov.gr has been designed to serve the principles of transparency, deliberation, collaboration and accountability and includes three initiatives: Οpen calls for the recruitment of public administration officials (Top level and mid-level openings in the public sector are available on the Internet), Electronic deliberation(Almost every piece of draft legislation or even policy initiative by the government, are posted in a blog like platform prior to their submission to parliament) and Labs Opengov.gr (An open innovation initiative that brings together ideas and proposals from citizens, the public and the private sectors).

HellasFrappe urges all its readers to send their letters and suggestions to the Ministry. A new leadership and a different agenda will only benefit all Greeks abroad once this new initiative takes off. You can also send your proposals and suggestions to hellasfrappe@yahoo.com and we will then combine all the proposals and post a letter to the Ministry ourselves.