I tend to see the EP's role as not " neo-papal patriarchalism", although I can see how that idea appears to be the case. I view that the EP's role in defining "full communion" status to be passive and symbolic and not as a kind of active requirement. It's merely a statement signifying the brotherly apostolic relations.
I , "world Orthodox" that I am, have never viewed our Church structure as a pyramid with an Orthodox "Pope" as it's head, but a communion of equal churches with the EP holding the place of a hub or nexus - a symbol of unity.
Hence, Al G. Green's statement, quoted from a parish website in Ohio (I think) is just that a statement of fact, not of a requirement fulfilled.
Demetri