“Democracy can work if it is given the opportunity”, emphasized former US President Barack Obama in the discussion he had at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Mental Health Conference “SNF Nostos Conference” at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Culture Center with the president of Foundation, Andreas Drakopoulos, for ways to strengthen democracy and the importance of supporting the next generation of leaders.

“Democracy is a harsh form of government,” the former US President pointed out. “Because it means you have to live side by side with someone who has not only different ideas than you in some cases, but a completely opposite worldview.

What is particularly dangerous is that we see some of the far-right populist parties in Europe, and in the United States, giving the impression that they will do anything to win and they will break down the norms, the barriers, they will manipulate the voting rules, he pointed out .

He also emphasized that inequality is accelerated, in many cases by new technologies.

The event was attended by the president of New Democracy Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the president of SYRIZA Alexis Tsipras, the former President of the Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos and the former prime minister Antonis Samaras.

It should be noted that the Niarchos Foundation has supported both the construction of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago and the implementation of the “Obama Foundation Leaders” program.

This is the second time Barack Obama has visited the Cultural Center, after his last international visit as part of his administration in 2016, when he delivered a landmark speech on the ideal of Democracy from the stage of the National Opera.