THE NATIONAL COORDINATED EFFORT OF HELLENES (CEH)

October 10, 2008 --White House Again Acts on Greek-Related Issues When Congress Is In Recess And Inaccurately Answers Congressional Inquires About Visa Waiver Program --

White House Excludes Congress

Just eight days after Congress went into recess, the White House is preparing to announce that Greece will not be accepted into the Visa Waiver program. This is the case even though Greece was the first on the list to have fulfilled all the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) technical requirements.

The Real Reason Greece Was Excluded

The real reason stems from another White House “recess announcement,” in November, 2004 when the U.S. recognized Greece’s northern neighbor by a name that describes territory in northern Greece that their neighbor wants to annex. We recognized that neighbor, called by the UN the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), as “Macedonia,” a name describing an ancient territory 55% of which is in northern Greece and 9% in Bulgaria. FYROM’s irredentist aims on that territory were made explicitly apparent when that country recently rejected a U.N.-proposed “Macedonian” name that describes only land within their borders – “North Macedonia.”

The White House is excluding Greece from the Visa Waiver program because in April 2008 NATO unanimously rejected FYROM’s membership until that nation accepts a name that did not describe northern Greece. Because the White House wanted FYROM in NATO, and Greece motivated this rejection, Greece is now being punished.

The Inaccurate Reason Given to Congress

The Administration is inaccurately informing Congress as to why Greece is being excluded from the Visa Waiver Program. They are saying that Greece would not sign, and had withdrawn from the process of signing, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) important to the program. In fact, Greece submitted its suggested technical changes to the MOU on March 21. Thirteen days later FYROM was rejected by NATO and U.S. officials stopped dealing with Greek officials about the MOU and related matters. Greek officials asked in meetings and phone calls to continue progress on the MOU and other discussions on 6/17, 7/2, 7/18, 7/25, 8/8, 9/24, 9/29, and 10/1. DHS, the negotiator of the MOU, has said to a number of people that it is the White House and not they nor their criteria, keeping Greece from the Visa Waiver program.

Sledgehammer Diplomacy with Allies Isolates America

Greece is a reliable American ally that has provided 643 people in KFOR (Kosovo), and 139 in Afghanistan; in 2007 alone, approved transit for 24,000 of our planes and 98 ships going to Iraq (an extremely unpopular war in their country) and provided the U.S. with an important Mediterranean air and port base. The U.S. badly strained relations with Greece because of our “recess announcement” endorsing a name for Greece’s neighbor that describes Greek territory that the neighbor wants to annex. By falsely accusing Greece of stopping the MOU discussion and excluding the citizens of Greece from a program for which they qualify above all others, the U.S. may further isolate itself from our oldest ally, Greece.