By Despina Vlepakis

Patra had its due yesterday, after the two former Presidents of PASOK, George Papandreou and Evangelos Venizeloswere present in the city, in two different events.

At the University of Patras, the Body of Emeritus Professors of the University organized a dialogue event on the topic: “Geopolitical Developments of Greek Interest – Challenges and Prospects” and keynote speakers Evangelos Venizelos and her Dora Bakoyannis.

The former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dora Bakoyannis, put a proposal on the table that will be discussed.

“The foreign policy of a country is exercised by the greatest possible consent and all serious political parties must pursue it. The council of political leaders cannot work, put the names down, put them around a table and you will understand why it cannot work, on the contrary, I believe that there could be a table where all the former prime ministers plus Evangelos Venizelos will be invited together with the prime minister of the country” noted Dora Bakoyannis, who however made it clear that it was her proposal that Maximou was not aware of.

The experienced politician tried to put out the fire that seems to be smoldering inside the ND, noting that there is no problem in the faction.

“There is no problem within our faction because the differences that exist are still within the framework, but the broader reactions are reactions that should be taken into account,” emphasized Dora Bakoyannis.

For his part, the former president of PASOK, former foreign minister and emeritus professor of Constitutional Law at AUTH, Evangelos Venizelos focused on the necessity of consent

“You cannot exercise foreign policy and security and defense policy and you cannot have a national strategy without a cultured and established domestic front. This does not exist in our country and does not exist in our country even though we have lived for 50 years in the post-colonial consensus, which was formed in practice. The governing parties formulated a single strategy with minimal deviations. And the fundamental moves were made by Konstantinos Karamanlis, who was the first prime minister of the post-colonial era… So, if we do not form basic conditions for dialogue and consensus, we will not be able to carry out the necessary actions, while the environment around us is new, threatening and potentially dangerous”, emphasized Evangelos Venizelos, among others.

Giorgos Papandreou and Haris Doukas at an event on the reliability of information

The Papandreou Foundation organized a conference in collaboration with ESIEPIN, on the topic “The credibility of information in the age of Fake News” at the Bar Association of Patras and George Papandreou, former Prime Minister and President of the Foundation, Papandreou gave the floor to journalists to talk about information and the danger of misinformation, as well as the Mayor of Athens, Haris Doukas, a coexistence that reminded the green faction that the channels of communication between the two, which was also expressed by George Papandreou’s indirect support for Doukas’ candidacy for the internal party elections of PASOK, remain open.

THE Former Prime Minister fired at the Government for its operation in terms of the Institutions.

“We have moved from the promise of digital freedom to a trap of algorithmic dependency and this “has enormous consequences for our democracy. Because democracy is based on trust…in Greece trust in institutions has been shaken. Especially with the current functioning of the government,” noted Mr George Papandreou.

Giorgos Papandreou emphasized by concluding that the issue “is not only information. It is freedom of thought. It is the citizen’s right to know, to judge, to participate. It is whether we will let communication, consultation, truth become a commodity — or whether we will guarantee them as a common good… That is our purpose. To restore public discourse to its dignity. And to rebuild the trust that every living democracy needs.”

THE Mayor of Athens, who has been targeted by government officials for the past few days regarding the Unknown Soldier and if he was doing his job properly on the spot as the person in charge of cleanliness until the amendment was passed, he nailed the handling of the case.

“We see a drone leaving one country and hitting a target in another country sitting on a chair and new kids were killed in the Tempe crime because it was just two trains and so many years have passed and no one knows – the trial hasn’t even started yet – what happened. The parents don’t know. And what is the central theme? Whether the parents can set up a message in front of the Constitution from the Unknown soldier to mourn until justice is decided and this becomes central in the country: Whether it will be allowed or not and who will do the cleaning, a contractor or the tanks…” said the Mayor of Athens, among other things.

Of course, his reference to parties that do not transform, did not go unnoticed, given the turmoil in the Center-Left.

“…Democracy itself now has an inherent problem. Because parties don’t transform quickly, the sentences they say are not understandable… because today’s message if you see it on social media, you have to say it in 10”. And you listen to politicians and you don’t understand what they say and you listen to 20 minutes of discussion and you haven’t understood. Also, the parties present programs on topics and positions that can be amazing but in which the person who listens does not feel that I am also a part of the process. It is the duty of all of us to have a new political proposal that has participation as a basic condition not as a right but as a responsibility.” noted Haris Doukas.