Obama discusses democratic culture with SNF’s Dracopoulos in Athens

Former US president Barack Obama took to the stage of the Greek National Opera's Stavros Niarchos Hall in southern Athens on Thursday for a conversation with Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Co-President Andreas Dracopoulos.

He participated in the SNF Nostos Conference 2023 (June 21-23) held at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, which this year was dedicated to mental health.

He began his speech alongside Dracopoulos, with whom he discussed strengthening democratic culture, and the significance of investing in the next generation of leaders.

Obama said democracy can work out if given a chance, but it is also a difficult form of government rule, because you have to coexist with people with different ideas than yourself. What is particularly dangerous, he noted, is the extreme-right populist parties in Europe and the United States that give the...