INTERVIEW: Melina Dislian
It was June 3rd back in 2019, when the citizens of Alexandroupoli decided to give a vote of confidence to Yannis Zamboukis, with 52.22% confirming that, in the best way. Four years later, the city of Alexandroupolis seems to be better than ever, with… AXD now appearing in all international media and staring in every news of political, economic, international and tourist interest. Yannis Zamboukis, speaking on: www.HelloFromGreece.se, makes his own retrospective and self-criticism about his four years as Mayor, talks about the development of Alexandroupoli on an economic and tourist level, admits the wrong choices he made with people that he trusted and they betrayed him, while he rolls up his sleeves, for the October’s elections…
A year and a half after Covid-19, Alexandroupoli seems to be better than ever before…
Obviously with all that we experienced in the midst of a pandemic, we were all tested. But it was an excellent opportunity for all of us, to measure the strength, the endurance and the limits of our Municipality. This particular period highlighted the weaknesses of all Municipalities throughout the country and I believe that as Alexandroupolis, we succeeded to the maximum extent.
What is the lesson that remains after the coronavirus period?
The lesson that remains, is that we can not take anything for granted. We realized that everything can change in a moment. And based on this… lesson, we moved through the pandemic, in order for the world to feel safe again in its everyday life. An everyday life, that we wanted to organize and improve.
Do you feel that you have succeeded it?
I feel that we managed to succeed this purpose and our citizens felt safe and realized everything that we tried to do.
Many artists who visited our city this year spoke with particularly flattering comments about Alexandroupoli. I suppose this is the best advertisement for everything that has been done lately by the Municipality?
You said it too…it’s the best advertisement. When artists like Yiannis Kotsiras and Eleftheria Arvanitaki, talk about Alexandroupoli with such a flattering comments, we automatically feel that we did something right.
Do you think it is also a justification – a response to some negative comments that have been heard lately?
We did – and continue to do – what we have to do, for Alexandroupolis and our Municipality, not to give answers to some critics.
The name of Alexandroupolis now staring in all Greek and international Media. Do you think that the time has come for the… counterattack and finally enter on the commercial, economic and touristic map of Greece and Europe?
We all worked very hard on the brand name of the city and now everyone can see Alexandroupolis into just three letters… in “AXD”. We wanted to re-introduce Alexandroupoli to the world, both inside and outside of Greece. We received an… ugly daughter and now we represent to everyone a sought-after bride. We worked a lot with tourism people, from foreign markets that interested us, such as Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Serbia… we invited them to come and get to know us and in the end, the result justified us. Having lot of patience, we worked these years on the specific design, cultivated relations with foreign markets and invited all people of tourism to come and see themselves the progress we made.
I suppose that this progress also refers to the new air connections that Alexandroupoli now has…
Exactly… We have now made the progress of enjoying the Alexandroupolis – Heraklion air link (which was also an honored city in our Maritime Week), while from April 2024, we will have the opportunity of enjoying direct flights from Alexandroupolis to Cyprus and Larnaca’ s airport. Something that could be done this summer as well, however the fullness of our tourist infrastructure did not allow us such a thing.
So did you win this summer’s bet, for the attendance of people in Alexandroupolis?
The work and the numbers speak for themselves… We won the bet having achieved something very important. Not only thousands of tourists came and visited Alexandroupolis, but at the same time we didn’t lose our identity. And what do I mean by that? That we keep the balance between the economic perspective and the touristic development of our city, without however altering our basic characteristics. For example the picturesqueness of the port, the quality of the raw materials, our warm hospitality and of course our traditional cuisine.
We see that one of the main elements of the city, which is now commented on by all visitors, is its greenery, parks, playgrounds and flower-filled streets. It looks like you put a lot of work into this…
Starting with the playgrounds, I will tell you this: they are not only the future of a city, but also its future. We paid a lot of attention and spent a lot of time to be able to transform our city. We renovated green parks, created pocket parks, painted and repaired damaged benches and replaced where was needed, improved all outdoor basketball courts to make them safer, maintained schools that had been neglected for many years and we are still going strong.
Pocket parks, is a word that is probably unknown to many people…
It is a nice and very hopeful – if I may say so – characterization. By the pocket park, we mean the abandoned and uncovered spaces, which with proper care and effort, turned into small places of rest and coolness.
However, the actions do not stop here…
Exactly. One of the big problems faced Alexandroupolis was the issue of strays. We did our best and created a network of care and feeding program for them, while great importance has also been given to the elderly people, strengthening the program that already existed “Help at Home”, with free food provision.
What is missing from the city or already exists, but not at the level you would like and would really… take the city into another level?
Without a second thought I would say one more modern transport network and more tourist infrastructures. Initially, it would be a great help to transfer the KTEL (bus station) to an area outside the city, while the railway network could also be modernized and follow European standards. As for the airport, which has already made huge strides in development, it could certainly be turned into an international one, capable of hosting low-cost flights, mainly from Germany and Scandinavia.
And now… elections, we entered the final stretch for October. What are your feelings and what are your concerns?
It is definitely a very stressful and demanding period, but at the same time beautiful and creative. It is a period of reorganization and self-criticism, through which you have the opportunity to meet new people who are selflessly inspired by the effort we are making and want to join us. The formation of our program is also a very creative part of this period and I am glad that every day they arrive at my office and… fall on my table, nice ideas, from nice and honest people, who want to contribute to the whole. And all this is done in order to follow the triptych of an idea: thinking – maturing – implementation. In other words, they are ideas that have been already studied, there have been many discussions about financing from the European Union and it is possible to carry them out.
Should we expect changes in positions and persons in your faction?
I think it is something that is required…
If at this moment you were a viewer and you saw the 4 years of Yannis Zamboukis on a screen… what would you change, what would you keep the same and what would you pay more attention to?
I can confidently tell you what I would change… and that is the people I had by my side, I have trusted them and in the end betrayed that trust. They are people who got angry with me because I didn’t accept them to do the obvious… take advantage of me and hurt me. I would change them at once…
In the end what would be left? Satisfaction or disappointment? Optimism that you can do something more or joy that you did your best?
Surely there would be satisfaction from the joy of the people and the smiles I see. I would feel proud every time a common citizen shakes my hand and greets me. I said it at the beginning, that nothing can be taken as granted. Now we have understood that joy and satisfaction are hidden in much simpler and everyday things. And the residents of Alexandroupoli confirm that every day. And ofcourse the confidence remains that we can do even more.
For the rest of your opponents and Mayoral candidates, what comment would you make? You have watched them, you know them and you have a point of view…
I want us to look only at our own work, to be focused on our own planning and of course after that, we will look back to see what is happening with our opponents as well. After all, a good driver always peeks in the mirror to see what is going on behind him…
