Imagine a European democracy without borders
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0:01 - 0:03This will not be a speech
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0:03 - 0:06like any one I have ever given.
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0:06 - 0:09I will talk to you today about
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0:09 - 0:14the failure of leadership in global politics
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0:14 - 0:17and in our globalizing economy.
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0:17 - 0:24And I won't provide some feel-good, ready-made solutions.
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0:24 - 0:27But I will in the end urge you
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0:27 - 0:32to rethink, actually take risks, and get involved
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0:32 - 0:36in what I see as a global evolution
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0:36 - 0:38of democracy.
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0:38 - 0:41Failure of leadership.
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0:41 - 0:43What is the failure of leadership today?
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0:43 - 0:47And why is our democracy not working?
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0:47 - 0:49Well, I believe that the failure of leadership is the fact
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0:49 - 0:54that we have taken you out of the process.
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0:54 - 0:57So let me, from my personal experiences,
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0:57 - 1:01give you an insight, so that you can step back
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1:01 - 1:04and maybe understand why it is so difficult to cope
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1:04 - 1:06with the challenges of today and why politics
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1:06 - 1:10is going down a blind alley.
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1:10 - 1:13Let's start from the beginning.
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1:13 - 1:16Let's start from democracy.
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1:16 - 1:18Well, if you go back to the Ancient Greeks,
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1:18 - 1:22it was a revelation, a discovery,
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1:22 - 1:26that we had the potential, together,
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1:26 - 1:30to be masters of our own fate,
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1:30 - 1:33to be able to examine, to learn, to imagine,
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1:33 - 1:36and then to design a better life.
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1:36 - 1:41And democracy was the political innovation
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1:41 - 1:44which protected this freedom,
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1:44 - 1:49because we were liberated from fear
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1:49 - 1:51so that our minds in fact,
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1:51 - 1:53whether they be despots or dogmas,
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1:53 - 1:58could be the protagonists.
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1:58 - 2:01Democracy was the political innovation that allowed us
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2:01 - 2:04to limit the power, whether it was of tyrants
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2:04 - 2:07or of high priests,
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2:07 - 2:12their natural tendency to maximize power and wealth.
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2:12 - 2:13Well, I first began to understand this
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2:13 - 2:16when I was 14 years old.
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2:16 - 2:18I used to, to try to avoid homework,
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2:18 - 2:23sneak down to the living room and listen to my parents
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2:23 - 2:25and their friends debate heatedly.
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2:25 - 2:27You see, then Greece was
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2:27 - 2:31under control of a very powerful establishment
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2:31 - 2:33which was strangling the country,
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2:33 - 2:36and my father was heading a promising movement
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2:36 - 2:38to reimagine Greece, to imagine a Greece
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2:38 - 2:41where freedom reigned and where, maybe,
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2:41 - 2:45the people, the citizens, could actually rule their own country.
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2:45 - 2:47I used to join him in many of the campaigns,
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2:47 - 2:49and you can see me here next to him.
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2:49 - 2:51I'm the younger one there, to the side.
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2:51 - 2:54You may not recognize me because
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2:54 - 2:57I used to part my hair differently there.
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2:57 - 2:58(Laughter)
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2:58 - 3:03So in 1967, elections were coming,
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3:03 - 3:04things were going well in the campaign,
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3:04 - 3:06the house was electric.
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3:06 - 3:09We really could sense that there was going to be
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3:09 - 3:13a major progressive change in Greece.
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3:13 - 3:18Then one night, military trucks drive up to our house.
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3:18 - 3:20Soldiers storm the door.
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3:20 - 3:24They find me up on the top terrace.
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3:24 - 3:26A sergeant comes up to me with a machine gun,
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3:26 - 3:28puts it to my head, and says,
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3:28 - 3:33"Tell me where your father is or I will kill you."
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3:33 - 3:37My father, hiding nearby, reveals himself,
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3:37 - 3:41and was summarily taken to prison.
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3:41 - 3:45Well, we survived, but democracy did not.
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3:45 - 3:47Seven brutal years of dictatorship
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3:47 - 3:51which we spent in exile.
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3:51 - 3:53Now, today, our democracies are again
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3:53 - 3:55facing a moment of truth.
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3:55 - 3:57Let me tell you a story.
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3:57 - 4:00Sunday evening,
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4:00 - 4:03Brussels, April 2010.
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4:03 - 4:06I'm sitting with my counterparts in the European Union.
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4:06 - 4:10I had just been elected prime minister,
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4:10 - 4:13but I had the unhappy privilege of revealing a truth
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4:13 - 4:17that our deficit was not 6 percent,
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4:17 - 4:20as had been officially reported only a few days earlier
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4:20 - 4:23before the elections by the previous government,
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4:23 - 4:28but actually 15.6 percent.
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4:28 - 4:31But the deficit was only the symptom
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4:31 - 4:33of much deeper problems that Greece was facing,
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4:33 - 4:37and I had been elected on a mandate, a mission, actually,
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4:37 - 4:38to tackle these problems,
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4:38 - 4:41whether it was lack of transparency
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4:41 - 4:43and accountability in governance,
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4:43 - 4:46or whether it was a clientelistic state
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4:46 - 4:50offering favors to the powerful -- tax avoidance
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4:50 - 4:55abetted and aided by a global tax evasion system,
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4:55 - 4:58politics and media captured by special interests.
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4:58 - 5:01But despite our electoral mandate,
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5:01 - 5:05the markets mistrusted us.
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5:05 - 5:07Our borrowing costs were skyrocketing,
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5:07 - 5:10and we were facing possible default.
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5:10 - 5:14So I went to Brussels on a mission
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5:14 - 5:18to make the case for a united European response,
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5:18 - 5:21one that would calm the markets and give us the time
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5:21 - 5:24to make the necessary reforms.
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5:24 - 5:27But time we didn't get.
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5:27 - 5:30Picture yourselves around the table in Brussels.
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5:30 - 5:33Negotiations are difficult, the tensions are high,
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5:33 - 5:36progress is slow, and then, 10 minutes to 2,
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5:36 - 5:37a prime minister shouts out,
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5:37 - 5:40"We have to finish in 10 minutes."
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5:40 - 5:42I said, "Why? These are important decisions.
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5:42 - 5:45Let's deliberate a little bit longer."
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5:45 - 5:48Another prime minister comes in and says,
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5:48 - 5:51"No, we have to have an agreement now,
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5:51 - 5:53because in 10 minutes,
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5:53 - 5:57the markets are opening up in Japan,
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5:57 - 6:01and there will be havoc in the global economy."
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6:01 - 6:05We quickly came to a decision in those 10 minutes.
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6:05 - 6:07This time it was not the military,
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6:07 - 6:14but the markets, that put a gun to our collective heads.
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6:14 - 6:18What followed were the most difficult decisions in my life,
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6:18 - 6:22painful to me, painful to my countrymen,
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6:22 - 6:25imposing cuts, austerity,
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6:25 - 6:28often on those not to blame for the crisis.
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6:28 - 6:31With these sacrifices, Greece did avoid bankruptcy
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6:31 - 6:35and the eurozone avoided a collapse.
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6:35 - 6:37Greece, yes, triggered the Euro crisis,
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6:37 - 6:40and some people blame me for pulling the trigger.
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6:40 - 6:43But I think today that most would agree
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6:43 - 6:46that Greece was only a symptom
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6:46 - 6:49of much deeper structural problems in the eurozone,
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6:49 - 6:54vulnerabilities in the wider global economic system,
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6:54 - 6:56vulnerabilities of our democracies.
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6:56 - 7:01Our democracies are trapped by systems too big to fail,
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7:01 - 7:04or, more accurately, too big to control.
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7:04 - 7:06Our democracies are weakened in the global economy
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7:06 - 7:10with players that can evade laws, evade taxes,
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7:10 - 7:13evade environmental or labor standards.
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7:13 - 7:16Our democracies are undermined
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7:16 - 7:18by the growing inequality
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7:18 - 7:22and the growing concentration of power and wealth,
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7:22 - 7:26lobbies, corruption, the speed of the markets
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7:26 - 7:30or simply the fact that we sometimes fear an impending disaster,
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7:30 - 7:33have constrained our democracies,
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7:33 - 7:36and they have constrained our capacity
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7:36 - 7:40to imagine and actually use the potential, your potential,
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7:40 - 7:42in finding solutions.
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7:42 - 7:45Greece, you see, was only a preview
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7:45 - 7:47of what is in store for us all.
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7:47 - 7:49I, overly optimistically, had hoped
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7:49 - 7:53that this crisis was an opportunity for Greece, for Europe,
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7:53 - 7:57for the world, to make radical democratic transformations
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7:57 - 7:59in our institutions.
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7:59 - 8:03Instead, I had a very humbling experience.
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8:03 - 8:08In Brussels, when we tried desperately again and again
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8:08 - 8:09to find common solutions,
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8:09 - 8:13I realized that not one, not one of us,
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8:13 - 8:17had ever dealt with a similar crisis.
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8:17 - 8:21But worse, we were trapped by our collective ignorance.
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8:21 - 8:24We were led by our fears.
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8:24 - 8:29And our fears led to a blind faith
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8:29 - 8:32in the orthodoxy of austerity.
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8:32 - 8:36Instead of reaching out to the common
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8:36 - 8:39or the collective wisdom in our societies,
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8:39 - 8:42investing in it to find more creative solutions,
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8:42 - 8:45we reverted to political posturing.
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8:45 - 8:46And then we were surprised when every
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8:46 - 8:50ad hoc new measure didn't bring an end to the crisis,
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8:50 - 8:53and of course that made it very easy
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8:53 - 8:54to look for a whipping boy
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8:54 - 8:56for our collective European failure,
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8:56 - 9:00and of course that was Greece.
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9:00 - 9:05Those profligate, idle, ouzo-swilling, Zorba-dancing Greeks,
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9:05 - 9:08they are the problem. Punish them!
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9:08 - 9:11Well, a convenient but unfounded stereotype
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9:11 - 9:16that sometimes hurt even more than austerity itself.
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9:16 - 9:19But let me warn you, this is not just about Greece.
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9:19 - 9:22This could be the pattern
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9:22 - 9:25that leaders follow again and again
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9:25 - 9:28when we deal with these complex, cross-border problems,
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9:28 - 9:32whether it's climate change, whether it's migration,
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9:32 - 9:35whether it's the financial system.
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9:35 - 9:38That is, abandoning our collective power
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9:38 - 9:40to imagine our potential,
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9:40 - 9:44falling victims to our fears, our stereotypes, our dogmas,
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9:44 - 9:46taking our citizens out of the process
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9:46 - 9:50rather than building the process around our citizens.
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9:50 - 9:53And doing so will only test the faith
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9:53 - 9:55of our citizens, of our peoples, even more
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9:55 - 9:58in the democratic process.
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9:58 - 9:59It's no wonder that many political leaders,
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9:59 - 10:02and I don't exclude myself,
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10:02 - 10:05have lost the trust of our people.
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10:05 - 10:08When riot police have to protect parliaments,
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10:08 - 10:13a scene which is increasingly common around the world,
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10:13 - 10:17then there's something deeply wrong with our democracies.
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10:17 - 10:21That's why I called for a referendum to have the Greek people
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10:21 - 10:26own and decide on the terms of the rescue package.
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10:26 - 10:27My European counterparts, some of them, at least,
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10:27 - 10:29said, "You can't do this.
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10:29 - 10:34There will be havoc in the markets again."
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10:34 - 10:38I said, "We need to, before we restore confidence in the markets,
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10:38 - 10:44we need to restore confidence and trust amongst our people."
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10:44 - 10:47Since leaving office, I have had time to reflect.
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10:47 - 10:52We have weathered the storm, in Greece and in Europe,
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10:52 - 10:54but we remain challenged.
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10:54 - 10:58If politics is the power to imagine and use our potential,
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10:58 - 11:02well then 60-percent youth unemployment in Greece,
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11:02 - 11:05and in other countries, certainly is a lack of imagination
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11:05 - 11:07if not a lack of compassion.
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11:07 - 11:10So far, we've thrown economics at the problem,
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11:10 - 11:12actually mostly austerity,
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11:12 - 11:15and certainly we could have designed alternatives,
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11:15 - 11:19a different strategy, a green stimulus for green jobs,
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11:19 - 11:22or mutualized debt, Eurobonds which would
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11:22 - 11:25support countries in need from market pressures,
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11:25 - 11:28these would have been much more viable alternatives.
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11:28 - 11:31Yet I have come to believe that the problem is not so much
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11:31 - 11:35one of economics as it is one of democracy.
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11:35 - 11:36So let's try something else.
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11:36 - 11:39Let's see how we can bring people back to the process.
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11:39 - 11:42Let's throw democracy at the problem.
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11:42 - 11:45Again, the Ancient Greeks, with all their shortcomings,
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11:45 - 11:48believed in the wisdom of the crowd
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11:48 - 11:51at their best moments. In people we trust.
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11:51 - 11:55Democracy could not work without the citizens
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11:55 - 11:59deliberating, debating, taking on public responsibilities
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11:59 - 12:01for public affairs.
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12:01 - 12:04Average citizens often were chosen for citizen juries
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12:04 - 12:08to decide on critical matters of the day.
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12:08 - 12:11Science, theater, research, philosophy,
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12:11 - 12:13games of the mind and the body,
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12:13 - 12:15they were daily exercises.
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12:15 - 12:19Actually they were an education for participation,
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12:19 - 12:22for the potential, for growing the potential of our citizens.
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12:22 - 12:27And those who shunned politics, well, they were idiots.
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12:27 - 12:30You see, in Ancient Greece, in ancient Athens,
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12:30 - 12:33that term originated there.
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12:33 - 12:37"Idiot" comes from the root "idio," oneself.
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12:37 - 12:41A person who is self-centered, secluded, excluded,
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12:41 - 12:45someone who doesn't participate or even examine public affairs.
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12:45 - 12:49And participation took place in the agora, the agora having two meanings,
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12:49 - 12:55both a marketplace and a place where there was political deliberation.
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12:55 - 12:59You see, markets and politics then were one, unified,
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12:59 - 13:03accessible, transparent, because they gave power to the people.
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13:03 - 13:08They serve the demos, democracy.
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13:08 - 13:10Above government, above markets
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13:10 - 13:13was the direct rule of the people.
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13:13 - 13:16Today we have globalized the markets
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13:16 - 13:20but we have not globalized our democratic institutions.
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13:20 - 13:25So our politicians are limited to local politics,
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13:25 - 13:28while our citizens, even though they see a great potential,
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13:28 - 13:33are prey to forces beyond their control.
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13:33 - 13:36So how then do we reunite the two halves of the agora?
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13:36 - 13:38How do we democratize globalization?
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13:38 - 13:41And I'm not talking about the necessary reforms
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13:41 - 13:43of the United Nations or the G20.
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13:43 - 13:46I'm talking about, how do we secure the space,
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13:46 - 13:48the demos, the platform of values,
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13:48 - 13:54so that we can tap into all of your potential?
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13:54 - 13:58Well, this is exactly where I think Europe fits in.
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13:58 - 14:00Europe, despite its recent failures,
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14:00 - 14:05is the world's most successful cross-border peace experiment.
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14:05 - 14:08So let's see if it can't be an experiment
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14:08 - 14:12in global democracy, a new kind of democracy.
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14:12 - 14:15Let's see if we can't design a European agora,
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14:15 - 14:18not simply for products and services,
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14:18 - 14:21but for our citizens, where they can work together,
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14:21 - 14:23deliberate, learn from each other,
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14:23 - 14:26exchange between art and cultures,
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14:26 - 14:30where they can come up with creative solutions.
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14:30 - 14:33Let's imagine that European citizens
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14:33 - 14:35actually have the power to vote directly
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14:35 - 14:38for a European president,
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14:38 - 14:41or citizen juries chosen by lottery
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14:41 - 14:46which can deliberate on critical and controversial issues,
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14:46 - 14:49a European-wide referendum where our citizens,
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14:49 - 14:53as the lawmakers, vote on future treaties.
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14:53 - 14:56And here's an idea:
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14:56 - 14:59Why not have the first truly European citizens
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14:59 - 15:01by giving our immigrants,
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15:01 - 15:05not Greek or German or Swedish citizenship,
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15:05 - 15:08but a European citizenship?
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15:08 - 15:11And make sure we actually empower
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15:11 - 15:14the unemployed by giving them a voucher scholarship
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15:14 - 15:18where they can choose to study anywhere in Europe.
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15:18 - 15:22Where our common identity is democracy,
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15:22 - 15:27where our education is through participation,
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15:27 - 15:30and where participation builds trust
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15:30 - 15:34and solidarity rather than exclusion and xenophobia.
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15:34 - 15:36Europe of and by the people,
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15:36 - 15:40a Europe, an experiment in deepening and widening
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15:40 - 15:43democracy beyond borders.
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15:43 - 15:47Now, some might accuse me of being naive,
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15:47 - 15:52putting my faith in the power and the wisdom of the people.
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15:52 - 15:57Well, after decades in politics, I am also a pragmatist.
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15:57 - 15:59Believe me, I have been,
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15:59 - 16:03I am, part of today's political system,
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16:03 - 16:08and I know things must change.
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16:08 - 16:12We must revive politics as the power to imagine,
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16:12 - 16:17reimagine, and redesign for a better world.
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16:17 - 16:20But I also know that this disruptive force of change
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16:20 - 16:23won't be driven by the politics of today.
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16:23 - 16:25The revival of democratic politics
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16:25 - 16:30will come from you, and I mean all of you.
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16:30 - 16:34Everyone who participates in this global exchange of ideas,
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16:34 - 16:35whether it's here in this room
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16:35 - 16:37or just outside this room
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16:37 - 16:41or online or locally, where everybody lives,
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16:41 - 16:44everyone who stands up to injustice and inequality,
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16:44 - 16:47everybody who stands up to those who preach
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16:47 - 16:49racism rather than empathy,
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16:49 - 16:52dogma rather than critical thinking,
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16:52 - 16:54technocracy rather than democracy,
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16:54 - 16:57everyone who stands up to the unchecked power,
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16:57 - 16:59whether it's authoritarian leaders,
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16:59 - 17:03plutocrats hiding their assets in tax havens,
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17:03 - 17:07or powerful lobbies protecting the powerful few.
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17:07 - 17:12It is in their interest that all of us are idiots.
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17:12 - 17:14Let's not be.
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17:14 - 17:15Thank you.
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17:15 - 17:27(Applause)
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17:27 - 17:29Bruno Giussani: You seem to describe a political leadership
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17:29 - 17:31that is kind of unprepared
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17:31 - 17:34and a prisoner of the whims of the financial markets,
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17:34 - 17:36and that scene in Brussels that you describe, to me,
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17:36 - 17:38as a citizen, is terrifying.
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17:38 - 17:43Help us understand how you felt after the decision.
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17:43 - 17:44It was not a good decision, clearly,
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17:44 - 17:47but how do you feel after that, not as the prime minister,
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17:47 - 17:49but as George?
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17:49 - 17:52George Papandreou: Well, obviously there were constraints
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17:52 - 17:56which didn't allow me or others to make
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17:56 - 17:57the types of decisions we would have wanted,
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17:57 - 18:00and obviously I had hoped that we would have the time
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18:00 - 18:01to make the reforms which would have dealt
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18:01 - 18:04with the deficit rather than trying to cut the deficit
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18:04 - 18:06which was the symptom of the problem.
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18:06 - 18:08And that hurt. That hurt because that, first of all,
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18:08 - 18:11hurt the younger generation, and not only,
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18:11 - 18:13many of them are demonstrating outside,
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18:13 - 18:15but I think this is one of our problems.
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18:15 - 18:20When we face these crises, we have kept the potential,
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18:20 - 18:23the huge potential of our society out of this process,
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18:23 - 18:26and we are closing in on ourselves in politics,
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18:26 - 18:29and I think we need to change that, to really find
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18:29 - 18:33new participatory ways using the great capabilities
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18:33 - 18:36that now exist even in technology but not only in technology,
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18:36 - 18:39the minds that we have, and I think we can find solutions
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18:39 - 18:41which are much better, but we have to be open.
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18:41 - 18:43BG: You seem to suggest that the way forward
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18:43 - 18:46is more Europe, and that is not to be an easy discourse
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18:46 - 18:48right now in most European countries.
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18:48 - 18:52It's rather the other way -- more closed borders
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18:52 - 18:54and less cooperation and maybe even stepping out
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18:54 - 18:58of some of the different parts of the European construction.
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18:58 - 19:00How do you reconcile that?
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19:00 - 19:02GP: Well, I think one of the worst things that happened
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19:02 - 19:05during this crisis is that we started a blame game.
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19:05 - 19:08And the fundamental idea of Europe is that
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19:08 - 19:10we can cooperate beyond borders,
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19:10 - 19:13go beyond our conflicts and work together.
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19:13 - 19:19And the paradox is that, because we have this blame game,
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19:19 - 19:22we have less the potential to convince our citizens
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19:22 - 19:23that we should work together,
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19:23 - 19:26while now is the time when we really need
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19:26 - 19:27to bring our powers together.
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19:27 - 19:30Now, more Europe for me is not simply
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19:30 - 19:32giving more power to Brussels.
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19:32 - 19:36It is actually giving more power to the citizens of Europe,
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19:36 - 19:39that is, really making Europe a project of the people.
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19:39 - 19:42So that, I think, would be a way to answer
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19:42 - 19:45some of the fears that we have in our society.
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19:45 - 19:46BG: George, thank you for coming to TED.
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19:46 - 19:50GP: Thank you very much.BG: Thank you.(Applause)
- Title:
- Imagine a European democracy without borders
- Speaker:
- George Papandreou
- Description:
-
Greece has been the poster child for European economic crisis, but former Prime Minister George Papandreou wonders if it's just a preview of what's to come. “Our democracies," he says, "are trapped by systems that are too big to fail, or more accurately, too big to control” -- while "politicians like me have lost the trust of their peoples." How to solve it? Have citizens re-engage more directly in a new democratic bargain.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 20:06
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Imagine a European democracy without borders | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Imagine a European democracy without borders | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Imagine a European democracy without borders | ||
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Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Imagine a European democracy without borders | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Imagine a European democracy without borders | ||
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