Many blame rich owners of shipping companies of not doing enough to support Greece financially but here is a noteworthy exception. Peter Nomikos, the 33-year-old heir of a wealthy shipping family of Santorini, came up with an innovative idea: he wants to raise money donated by individuals to make Greece “Debt Free” as soon as possible.
The London-based man decided to launch a charity website called “Greece Debt Free” to eliminate- what else?- Greece’s debt.
Approximately 16 million people of Greek origin live around the world and thus, Mr Nomikos hopes that some of them will be willing to support their country. “Greeks are terrible citizens, but exceptional patriots,” says Nomikos in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
But Mr Nomikos has many rich friends as well. Vangelis Marinakis, an eminent shipowner and president of football team Olympiacos, has already signed up for GDF, donating €168,590 on behalf of his team. This amount of money is enough to buy state bonds that cancel a bit less than 1.5 million of the Greek debt.
Right now each Greek owes about € 24,800 in national debt, but this is being bought and sold on the international market for about € 3,000. On Tuesday, June 26th, the third day of its operation, the website has earned 2,200,000 euros already!
For more information on the project or any donations, visit the website http://www.greecedebtfree.org/.
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