Read the speech of the former Prime Minister and founder of the Symposium of Symi, during the closing ceremony of the 27th Symposium which took place in Katigiorgi, Magnisia, on Thursday, July 17, 2025.
“Dear friends,
From the bottom of my heart, I thank you—all of you—our Symi participants, for these extraordinary days we’ve shared together, here on the luminous island of Skiathos.
We came as thinkers and doers, from every corner of the world. And in the shade of olive trees, by the sea, in our circles of dialogue, we were challenged—not only to think anew—but to forge bonds of trust, to deepen old friendships and create new alliances. Challenged to listen and learn from each other, from our young participants, from our Agora Project Fellows, to our seasoned politicians, activists and academics.
We were challenged to imagine.
To remember that politics—a word born in ancient Greece—was never meant to be cynical or manipulative. No, politics was, and must again become, the collective art of imagining a better world—and democracy, the method by which we make that imagination real.
Today, we face a fundamental choice.
We can passively accept the world as it is. Or we can choose to shape what it could become.
And let us be honest about what “the world as it is” looks like:
A world where power is increasingly concentrated—
Where obscene inequality distorts our democracies, and money speaks louder than justice—
Where media, sports, even cultural spaces are bought and branded by the few—
Where autocrats not only undermine democracy but survive waging brutal wars and targeting scapegoats
Where technology is not liberating but surveilling, manipulating our identities, monetizing our attention, denying our dignity—
Where fossil fuel giants, agribusiness, pharma, finance, and the military-industrial complex command more authority than elected governments—
Where profit is king, and the public good a footnote—
Where oligarchs—men of money and autocracy—tighten their grip on both our minds and our futures.
But this is not the only path.
The real choice before us is this: submission to the status quo or transformation through justice, democracy, and collective courage.
We know—revolution or reform is often the debate. But what emerged from our dialogues is that we need both: radical change—achieved peacefully, deliberately, and democratically.
A just transition is no longer a luxury. It is a necessity. Because climate change, barring nuclear catastrophe, is the defining existential challenge of our time.
But this transition is not simply about cutting carbon emissions. It is about rethinking who we are and how we live—our societies, our economies, our democracies, our values.
This is the political challenge of our time. How will we shape tomorrow’s world?
From our days together, I propose a vision grounded in five principles:
First, we are challenged to build a virtuous society—not in a moralizing sense, but in the Aristotelian one. A society of justice, where ethics guide policy, and the burden of change is shared fairly. Where the vulnerable are not sacrificed in the name of transition but protected and empowered.
Second, we must renew and deepen democracy. Not as a ritual of elections alone—but as an everyday practice. A democracy where citizens are agents of change, not spectators of decay. Heard representing themselves. A participatory democracy, where deliberation, dialogue, and decision-making are shared responsibilities.
Only such a democracy can take on the deep changes we need:
– how we build and move,
– how we produce and consume,
– how we nurture health—of people and of planet
Third, how we re-claim power, in politics, the economy and in culture is a challenge. Our democracy must reach into our economy and our technologies.
AI can either amplify our voice or silence it.
Platforms can empower or manipulate.
Energy systems can be democratized—where everyone is a prosumer, not a passive payer.
Energy democracy is a direct antidote to energy oligarchy. We must seize it.
Fourth, democracy demands education—but not rote learning. We need schools of critical thought, debate, collective intelligence, and creative skill. Education as participation in the life of the city, the nation, the planet. Schools must become crucibles of change, not factories of conformity.
Fifth, we must free our imaginations from the caves we inhabit—whether the habits of fear or the glowing screens of distraction. Here, art is essential. Music, theatre, graffiti, poetry—these are not luxuries. They are oxygen for the democratic imagination. Art opens us to new worlds—and therefore, new politics.
But even with ideas, we know—change requires leadership.
Not only presidents or prime ministers. But you.
You can lead—in your neighborhood, your school, your community, your platform, your movement.
Leadership is not about titles. It’s about action. It’s about conscience. It’s about courage.
Yet none of us can do this alone.
The power of the powerful is vast. And so the powerless must unite. The fragmented must form alliances.
We must link arms:
– Peace activists with climate defenders
– Feminists with trade unionists
– Pro-democracy voices with indigenous protectors
– Journalists with teachers
– Migrants and Youth
– Refugees with proud Pride demonstrators
– Technologists with philosophers
– Farmers with artists
From every cause for dignity, let us build a common cause for democracy.
Let us make the power of one, the power of all.
And so, I end with a call to action.
Let us create, I propose – together, a School for Democracy—a space to empower young leaders from across our region, and beyond. A space where they can learn, deliberate, imagine, and act—to build societies of peace, cooperation, human rights, climate justice, and dignity.
The Symi spirit does not stay in Skiathos. It travels with each of you.
Carry it into your lives. Into your struggles. Into your dreams.
Let this be our pact, our promise—
To shape the future not with fear, but with freedom.
Not with greed, but with generosity.
Not with silence, but with solidarity.
The journey continues. And together—we lead.
Thank you.”