Galery

2

1

Anastasia Balezdrova

Foreign Secretary William Hague has announced the existence of a plan to evacuate British citizens from Greece. He disclosed this the day before the eurozone finance ministers and representatives of the International Monetary Fund agreed on the new bailout to Greece.

According to the Secretary, British citizens who live in the country must register with the consular offices because the authorities are planning evacuation if Greece comes out of the eurozone.

This is a scenario supported by many international and Greek media. Many economists believe that the new rescue package will fail to solve the financial problems of Greece, which may continue over the next ten years.

William Hague said that Greece’s rescue is a question of concern for the country itself and the eurozone. He also said that Britain would like to put an end to uncertainty. Action plans for emergencies were prepared in case British nationals in Greece needed help in any way and he added that they receive information from consular offices every day.

GRReporter contacted two foreigners living in Greece. One of them is the former USA diplomat Brady Kiesling. He described the cases in which diplomatic missions operate such plans.

He said that every embassy has an emergency action plan for the contingency of its citizens in Greece or any other country. Each country has a plan, which contains the number of citizens. In the event of a war or an earthquake, the consulate will have to contact them to arrange their evacuation. But this is a routine arrangement. According to him, this plan will be updated in the unlikely event of a financial collapse being triggered. So, it is not strange, but it would be better if it were put in another way.
 
According to Brady Kiesling, every embassy including that of the USA has a database with the contact details of its citizens in the respective country anyway. The embassy sends them information and security advice when necessary. For example, in the days of great protests in Athens, they sent an e-mail, which advised USA citizens to avoid Syntagma Square for the duration of the protests. I.e. the system exists and the question is whether it is likely to be triggered.

The former diplomat says that it is unlikely. In his opinion, there must be a very great manifestation of violence in order for this system to be activated. One possible scenario is for the bailout to Greece to fail within a few months or a year and then, Greece would not be able to pay for things like air transport and ground control and suddenly, it would be isolated from the rest of the world for a short period of time. Then, there would be panic and everyone would try to leave the country. This is just a scenario, which he does not expect in the near future. One serious problem that exists today is crime. Unfortunately, social cohesion in Greece is not currently creating solidarity against it. Burglaries are something of a tradition and thieves are not isolated from society itself, which is a problem, in his opinion.

Danielle B.L. is an Englishwoman married to a Greek and has been living in Greece for years. She was surprised by William Hague’s statements and said she did not feel threatened by anything but the consequences of the economic crisis.

In her words, she is somewhat optimistic and does not understand why the British government has made such a fuss. She does not feel threatened by anyone here, at least at present. Her children attend a school where their classmates are from different countries. There are children from Muslim countries, Russia and China. They all are friends and she feels good in this environment and does not feel threatened by anyone.

She also said that if she had to worry about anything in fact, given the developments in Greece, it would be the economic crisis and whether there would be any food. She did not hide that at the insistence of her husband, they had bought about 100 packets of pasta that are stored in the closet now. They went to the extreme of buying durable foods, but Danielle believes that nothing else is threatening her and her family.