Interview with Giorgos Hatzigeorgiou
George Hatzigeorgiou, a candidate for regional councillor with the Social Alliance, answers questions from Thraki Nea.
You are widely known for your campaign against gold mines. The local community has been waging this campaign for years. What do you think the outcome will be?
The liberation of Thrace from this crime, because we have already chosen our future, and that future is called ‘Zeolite’.
Was the issue of the gold mines one of the main motivations for you to stand in the regional elections?
The campaigns against the destruction of the region laid the initial groundwork for cooperation with the municipalities and the Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace. But the motivation is to implement constructive solutions for our Thrace.
Let’s fast-forward a bit: you’re now on the regional council. What will be the first issue you raise?
The issues are already there. But since you want the first one, it would be this: the treatment of olive mill waste and its conversion into fertiliser with the help of zeolite.
You have lived in both of Evros’s major towns. You settled in Alexandroupoli a few years ago for work. What unites and what divides Orestiada and Alexandroupoli?
What unites Nea Orestiada and Alexandroupoli is the railway. The former is a treasure trove of humanity and the latter its port; as such, both have a strategic role to play in the development of Thrace.
The central part of Evros is suffering as a result of the crisis. If you ask the business owners in Soufli, they are searching with binoculars for tourist coaches – something that, of course, did not happen in the past. How far can businesses’ outward-looking approach go, and what support should the region provide?
The Silk Road is in itself an example of an outward-looking approach. What is currently being done through the Region’s Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, with the assistance of its Chairman, Mr Petros Soukoulias, is the revival of the silk industry and the promotion of its high quality, which makes it competitive on an international level. zeolite will play a significant role here, as we need new plantations of traditional mulberry trees to feed the silkworms.
Zeolite. When you hear that Evros has a hidden treasure, how does that make you feel?
zeolite is revolutionising sectors such as agriculture and livestock farming, by purifying the soil whilst saving water and fertiliser, thereby increasing yields and improving the quality and flavour of the final product.
So it is joy that gives strength to the work!
There are five words to describe Evros:
- Zeolite
- Railway
- Port
- Innovation
- Development
Biographical note on Giorgos Hatzigeorgiou
He was born on 30 December 1975 in Didymoteicho and grew up in Nea Orestiada. He graduated from the Technical University of Varna with a degree in Information and Computer Engineering. He has worked in various fields, including as an IT teacher at various levels of education and as a lecturer at IT seminars in Nea Orestiada, Didymoteicho and Alexandroupoli. From 2000 to 2006, he worked as an IT Engineer at the IT company PCSOFT in Nea Orestiada. In the tourism sector, he worked in various parts of Europe, including the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria and Istanbul. Since 2007, he has been working at the Alexandroupoli University General Hospital, in the IT Department’s hardware and networks section. He collaborates with Dr Nikos Lygeros on matters relating to the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), zeolite and innovation.