The program featured Panos Drosinakis, President of the Federation of Greek Communities in Germany, who spoke about the draft law on postal voting for Greeks abroad, the closure of the Greek-language service of Deutsche Welle, and the unification of the two Greek communities in Hamburg.
As he noted, the unification of the two Greek communities in Hamburg could serve as a model for other regions where fragmentation occurs. He added that an initial step has already been taken toward establishing a legal framework with strict criteria, so that each city will have only one officially recognized local Greek community under the title “Community”, while other bodies would operate as associations. He also mentioned that the first general assembly of the unified Greek Community of Hamburg is scheduled to take place on 21 March.
Regarding the new draft law on postal voting for Greeks abroad, Mr Drosinakis stressed that it addresses many of the needs of the Greek diaspora, but that several bureaucratic issues still need to be resolved in order for more expatriates to be registered on the electoral rolls.
Finally, referring to the closure of Deutsche Welle’s Greek-language service, Mr Drosinakis raised the question: “Which foreign-language service will be next to shut down?”, emphasizing that this is primarily an economic issue and expressing hope that the decision may be reversed through the collection of signatures on the official website of the German parliament.