University of Delaware President Dennis Assanis welcomed Haris Lalacos, Greece’s ambassador to the United States, for a speech at UD on Friday, Nov. 17. Assanis opened the program by emphasizing to the audience the connections between Greece and UD.

“At the University of Delaware, we clearly care about Greece,” said Assanis. “Not just because we have a president who was born in Greece and a first lady who was born in Greece, but we have a number of faculty members, I’d like to say they are in the 20s, who are of Greek origin, Greek descent, Greek American.”

Assanis also noted that a small number of students from Greece attend the University, but hopes the number will continue to grow through partnerships UD has now and is working to expand with Greece.

Before turning over the lectern, Assanis told the audience that he and Lalacos attended the same high school in Greece. However, Lalacos was one grade above Assanis, who joked he had paid his respects to his senior.

Lalacos told a full room of students, faculty, staff and visitors in the Gore Recital Hall of the Roselle Center of the Arts that Greece remains strategically important and that the country has a strong relationship with the United States.

“Relations between Greece and the United States are at their best point since the [1974] restoration of democracy,” said Lalacos.

Lalacos reminded his audience of the historical reasons for the alliance between Greece and the United States, and that Greece contributes to Mediterranean stability in a time of turmoil.

Turning to a modern economic regional issue, Lalacos said a major concern for Greece is a natural gas pipeline project. Greece would like to become an alternative energy hub in the next few years, because Russia is currently its main supplier of natural gas, he said. Greece wants to diversify its energy resources.

“For decades Greece tried very hard to become an actor, even a small actor, in the big pipeline games, oil or gas pipelines, with very little success until this decade, when the Trans Adriatic Pipeline will bring natural gas,” said Lalacos. “So the pipeline is going to go pretty much through most of northern Greece into Albania and then under water to the south, southeast of Italy. And from Italy it will join the existing pipeline network.”

Lalacos closed his presentation by addressing a major issue that Greece and most of Europe faces.

“Greece is still a vulnerable country when it comes to migration,” said Lalacos.

Much of the country and its islands are accessible by water, which he said makes Greece an easy target for migrants and smugglers of migrants. Even if migrants are spotted at sea, Lalacos said, international law requires Greece to accept those people instead of pushing them back towards Turkey.

“It is also our duty when these people are coming to provide shelter for them,” said Lalacos. “It cannot be our duty to leave them there forever. We cannot afford to do this.”

Lalacos said tension rises in Greece because migrants don’t want to stay in Greece, but are stuck there because of restrictions imposed by other European nations, and Greeks are concerned about newcomers worsening the employment situation. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports that Greece’s unemployment rate is 23.5 percent. If migrants do find work, it is often in low-wage jobs.

“These people come to Greece, which they see as a transit country,” said Lalacos. “They don’t want to stay in Greece and because the northern borders of Greece are sealed for this type of flow, the new refugee and migrants spend more and more time in different camps around Greece.”

When Lalacos concluded, Assanis re-joined him on stage for a brief question-and-answer session and then both stayed for a reception, where they spoke with many people who attended the event.

“I’m really glad I visited the University of Delaware and I had such a big audience here,” Lalacos said. “Mixed audience. Some people with Greek backgrounds, but many who just have an interest in Greece. And I think people followed my presentation with interest, they asked questions and with more time, will still be discussing.”