Greeks in UAE await euro vote

Greek expatriates in the UAE are anxiously awaiting the outcome that has the potential to alter the future direction of their home country.

A ‘no’ campaign poster in Athens, Greece, as the country prepares to vote in today’s referendum on its place in Europe. Kostas Tsironis

ABU DHABI // Natassa Kanellou, a Greek language instructor who lives in Abu Dhabi, was flying home last night to vote in today’s referendum, which could lead to her country’s departure from the euro zone.

Voters can vote “yes” for a financial bailout devised by Greece’s international creditors, or “no” to austerity measures demanded by those creditors. A victory for the “no” vote would almost certainly mean the country must leave the bloc using the euro currency.

Ms Kanellou said the debt crisis was never far from her thoughts despite having lived abroad for the past 12 years.

“It really pains you,” she said. “When you’re abroad, you sympathise with the people but you don’t live the life. Of course we don’t want to go out of the euro, but on the other hand Greeks cannot survive with these measures.

“Greece has some of the highest levels of taxation in Europe and the new measures are even higher. How can people survive like this? Why do they treat us this way?”

Rules state that Greek nationals must be in the country on the day of the referendum to be eligible to vote.

Dubai resident Foteini Lavda, originally from Athens, said she viewed the situation with a sense of indignation.

If she could vote, Ms Lavda said she would not accept demands for further austerity made by the International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank.

“They are threatening our people that Greece will lose everything, that we’ll have no future,” she said. “We are not afraid and we are stronger than they think. They forget our history.”

Ms Lavda and Ms Kanellou have been helping the UAE’s Greek community who have been hit the hardest by the crisis, raising funds for the homeless and for orphanages.

“Greeks in Greece should not believe that we are not thinking about them,” said Ms Lavda. “The community is supporting these people. We are united and we want to help.”

Christos Giamenis, a relationship manager for a bank in Abu Dhabi, left Greece more than three years ago to escape the crisis. “They are living in horrible times,” said Mr Giamenis. “Nobody imagined that they would have to queue in a line to get only €60 a day.”

He said that he could never have imagined going to a supermarket to “find everything had sold out”, and that the result would “definitely be a ‘yes’”.

“People will come to their senses, we have no other source of money,” said Mr Giamenis.

He blames the country’s plight on its leaders, both past and present.

“They’ve made huge mistakes, prime minister Alexis Tsipras and finance minister Yanis Varoufakis,” he said.

“Greece had first a political crisis, than a financial crisis.” There had not been a leader in 20 years who “looked out for the good of the people”, he said.