WEBVTT 00:00:01.250 --> 00:00:02.516 This will not be a speech 00:00:02.516 --> 00:00:05.807 like any one I have ever given. 00:00:05.807 --> 00:00:09.297 I will talk to you today about 00:00:09.297 --> 00:00:14.187 the failure of leadership in global politics 00:00:14.187 --> 00:00:17.185 and in our globalizing economy. 00:00:17.185 --> 00:00:24.138 And I won't provide some feel-good, ready-made solutions. 00:00:24.138 --> 00:00:26.672 But I will in the end urge you 00:00:26.672 --> 00:00:32.115 to rethink, actually take risks, and get involved 00:00:32.115 --> 00:00:35.520 in what I see as a global evolution 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:38.330 of democracy. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:38.330 --> 00:00:40.585 Failure of leadership. 00:00:40.585 --> 00:00:43.346 What is the failure of leadership today? 00:00:43.346 --> 00:00:46.813 And why is our democracy not working? 00:00:46.813 --> 00:00:49.444 Well, I believe that the failure of leadership is the fact 00:00:49.444 --> 00:00:53.997 that we have taken you out of the process. 00:00:53.997 --> 00:00:56.513 So let me, from my personal experiences, 00:00:56.513 --> 00:01:00.742 give you an insight, so that you can step back 00:01:00.742 --> 00:01:04.414 and maybe understand why it is so difficult to cope 00:01:04.414 --> 00:01:06.489 with the challenges of today and why politics 00:01:06.489 --> 00:01:10.133 is going down a blind alley. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:10.133 --> 00:01:12.630 Let's start from the beginning. 00:01:12.630 --> 00:01:16.426 Let's start from democracy. 00:01:16.426 --> 00:01:18.451 Well, if you go back to the Ancient Greeks, 00:01:18.451 --> 00:01:21.640 it was a revelation, a discovery, 00:01:21.640 --> 00:01:26.157 that we had the potential, together, 00:01:26.157 --> 00:01:29.878 to be masters of our own fate, 00:01:29.878 --> 00:01:32.750 to be able to examine, to learn, to imagine, 00:01:32.750 --> 00:01:36.083 and then to design a better life. 00:01:36.083 --> 00:01:41.269 And democracy was the political innovation 00:01:41.269 --> 00:01:43.771 which protected this freedom, 00:01:43.771 --> 00:01:49.086 because we were liberated from fear 00:01:49.086 --> 00:01:50.739 so that our minds in fact, 00:01:50.739 --> 00:01:53.461 whether they be despots or dogmas, 00:01:53.461 --> 00:01:57.864 could be the protagonists. 00:01:57.864 --> 00:02:00.853 Democracy was the political innovation that allowed us 00:02:00.853 --> 00:02:04.241 to limit the power, whether it was of tyrants 00:02:04.241 --> 00:02:06.988 or of high priests, 00:02:06.988 --> 00:02:11.826 their natural tendency to maximize power and wealth. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:11.826 --> 00:02:13.436 Well, I first began to understand this 00:02:13.436 --> 00:02:15.558 when I was 14 years old. 00:02:15.558 --> 00:02:17.668 I used to, to try to avoid homework, 00:02:17.668 --> 00:02:22.844 sneak down to the living room and listen to my parents 00:02:22.844 --> 00:02:24.544 and their friends debate heatedly. 00:02:24.544 --> 00:02:26.922 You see, then Greece was 00:02:26.922 --> 00:02:31.159 under control of a very powerful establishment 00:02:31.159 --> 00:02:32.906 which was strangling the country, 00:02:32.906 --> 00:02:35.599 and my father was heading a promising movement 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:38.419 to reimagine Greece, to imagine a Greece 00:02:38.419 --> 00:02:40.862 where freedom reigned and where, maybe, 00:02:40.862 --> 00:02:44.573 the people, the citizens, could actually rule their own country. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:44.573 --> 00:02:46.869 I used to join him in many of the campaigns, 00:02:46.869 --> 00:02:48.808 and you can see me here next to him. 00:02:48.808 --> 00:02:51.276 I'm the younger one there, to the side. 00:02:51.276 --> 00:02:54.384 You may not recognize me because 00:02:54.384 --> 00:02:56.612 I used to part my hair differently there. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:56.612 --> 00:02:58.489 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:58.489 --> 00:03:02.636 So in 1967, elections were coming, 00:03:02.636 --> 00:03:04.480 things were going well in the campaign, 00:03:04.480 --> 00:03:06.491 the house was electric. 00:03:06.491 --> 00:03:08.779 We really could sense that there was going to be 00:03:08.779 --> 00:03:12.776 a major progressive change in Greece. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:12.776 --> 00:03:17.728 Then one night, military trucks drive up to our house. 00:03:17.728 --> 00:03:20.106 Soldiers storm the door. 00:03:20.106 --> 00:03:24.276 They find me up on the top terrace. 00:03:24.276 --> 00:03:26.231 A sergeant comes up to me with a machine gun, 00:03:26.231 --> 00:03:28.190 puts it to my head, and says, 00:03:28.190 --> 00:03:32.542 "Tell me where your father is or I will kill you." 00:03:32.542 --> 00:03:36.724 My father, hiding nearby, reveals himself, 00:03:36.724 --> 00:03:40.889 and was summarily taken to prison. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:40.889 --> 00:03:44.625 Well, we survived, but democracy did not. 00:03:44.625 --> 00:03:47.137 Seven brutal years of dictatorship 00:03:47.137 --> 00:03:50.929 which we spent in exile. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:50.929 --> 00:03:53.153 Now, today, our democracies are again 00:03:53.153 --> 00:03:55.432 facing a moment of truth. 00:03:55.432 --> 00:03:57.259 Let me tell you a story. 00:03:57.259 --> 00:03:59.543 Sunday evening, 00:03:59.543 --> 00:04:02.662 Brussels, April 2010. 00:04:02.662 --> 00:04:06.215 I'm sitting with my counterparts in the European Union. 00:04:06.215 --> 00:04:09.698 I had just been elected prime minister, 00:04:09.698 --> 00:04:13.291 but I had the unhappy privilege of revealing a truth 00:04:13.291 --> 00:04:16.712 that our deficit was not 6 percent, 00:04:16.712 --> 00:04:20.258 as had been officially reported only a few days earlier 00:04:20.258 --> 00:04:23.227 before the elections by the previous government, 00:04:23.227 --> 00:04:28.115 but actually 15.6 percent. 00:04:28.115 --> 00:04:30.547 But the deficit was only the symptom 00:04:30.547 --> 00:04:32.863 of much deeper problems that Greece was facing, 00:04:32.863 --> 00:04:36.794 and I had been elected on a mandate, a mission, actually, 00:04:36.794 --> 00:04:38.039 to tackle these problems, 00:04:38.039 --> 00:04:40.773 whether it was lack of transparency 00:04:40.773 --> 00:04:43.074 and accountability in governance, 00:04:43.074 --> 00:04:45.740 or whether it was a clientelistic state 00:04:45.740 --> 00:04:50.293 offering favors to the powerful -- tax avoidance 00:04:50.293 --> 00:04:55.020 abetted and aided by a global tax evasion system, 00:04:55.020 --> 00:04:58.452 politics and media captured by special interests. 00:04:58.452 --> 00:05:01.452 But despite our electoral mandate, 00:05:01.452 --> 00:05:04.667 the markets mistrusted us. 00:05:04.667 --> 00:05:07.433 Our borrowing costs were skyrocketing, 00:05:07.433 --> 00:05:10.340 and we were facing possible default. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:10.340 --> 00:05:13.620 So I went to Brussels on a mission 00:05:13.620 --> 00:05:17.634 to make the case for a united European response, 00:05:17.634 --> 00:05:20.934 one that would calm the markets and give us the time 00:05:20.934 --> 00:05:23.940 to make the necessary reforms. 00:05:23.940 --> 00:05:26.844 But time we didn't get. 00:05:26.844 --> 00:05:29.980 Picture yourselves around the table in Brussels. 00:05:29.980 --> 00:05:32.871 Negotiations are difficult, the tensions are high, 00:05:32.871 --> 00:05:35.748 progress is slow, and then, 10 minutes to 2, 00:05:35.748 --> 00:05:37.320 a prime minister shouts out, 00:05:37.320 --> 00:05:39.840 "We have to finish in 10 minutes." NOTE Paragraph 00:05:39.840 --> 00:05:42.473 I said, "Why? These are important decisions. 00:05:42.473 --> 00:05:44.628 Let's deliberate a little bit longer." NOTE Paragraph 00:05:44.628 --> 00:05:47.711 Another prime minister comes in and says, 00:05:47.711 --> 00:05:51.043 "No, we have to have an agreement now, 00:05:51.043 --> 00:05:53.395 because in 10 minutes, 00:05:53.395 --> 00:05:56.960 the markets are opening up in Japan, 00:05:56.960 --> 00:06:01.409 and there will be havoc in the global economy." NOTE Paragraph 00:06:01.409 --> 00:06:04.822 We quickly came to a decision in those 10 minutes. 00:06:04.822 --> 00:06:07.098 This time it was not the military, 00:06:07.098 --> 00:06:13.586 but the markets, that put a gun to our collective heads. 00:06:13.586 --> 00:06:17.769 What followed were the most difficult decisions in my life, 00:06:17.769 --> 00:06:21.996 painful to me, painful to my countrymen, 00:06:21.996 --> 00:06:25.018 imposing cuts, austerity, 00:06:25.018 --> 00:06:28.244 often on those not to blame for the crisis. 00:06:28.244 --> 00:06:31.371 With these sacrifices, Greece did avoid bankruptcy 00:06:31.371 --> 00:06:34.523 and the eurozone avoided a collapse. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:34.523 --> 00:06:37.171 Greece, yes, triggered the Euro crisis, 00:06:37.171 --> 00:06:40.289 and some people blame me for pulling the trigger. 00:06:40.289 --> 00:06:43.336 But I think today that most would agree 00:06:43.336 --> 00:06:45.702 that Greece was only a symptom 00:06:45.702 --> 00:06:49.379 of much deeper structural problems in the eurozone, 00:06:49.379 --> 00:06:53.571 vulnerabilities in the wider global economic system, 00:06:53.571 --> 00:06:56.217 vulnerabilities of our democracies. 00:06:56.217 --> 00:07:00.554 Our democracies are trapped by systems too big to fail, 00:07:00.554 --> 00:07:03.923 or, more accurately, too big to control. 00:07:03.923 --> 00:07:06.252 Our democracies are weakened in the global economy 00:07:06.252 --> 00:07:09.723 with players that can evade laws, evade taxes, 00:07:09.723 --> 00:07:13.044 evade environmental or labor standards. 00:07:13.044 --> 00:07:15.926 Our democracies are undermined 00:07:15.926 --> 00:07:18.084 by the growing inequality 00:07:18.084 --> 00:07:21.864 and the growing concentration of power and wealth, 00:07:21.864 --> 00:07:25.518 lobbies, corruption, the speed of the markets 00:07:25.518 --> 00:07:30.357 or simply the fact that we sometimes fear an impending disaster, 00:07:30.357 --> 00:07:33.077 have constrained our democracies, 00:07:33.077 --> 00:07:35.965 and they have constrained our capacity 00:07:35.965 --> 00:07:39.963 to imagine and actually use the potential, your potential, 00:07:39.963 --> 00:07:42.478 in finding solutions. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:42.478 --> 00:07:44.933 Greece, you see, was only a preview 00:07:44.933 --> 00:07:47.310 of what is in store for us all. 00:07:47.310 --> 00:07:49.000 I, overly optimistically, had hoped 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:52.791 that this crisis was an opportunity for Greece, for Europe, 00:07:52.791 --> 00:07:57.266 for the world, to make radical democratic transformations 00:07:57.266 --> 00:07:59.143 in our institutions. 00:07:59.143 --> 00:08:03.040 Instead, I had a very humbling experience. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:07.521 In Brussels, when we tried desperately again and again 00:08:07.521 --> 00:08:09.430 to find common solutions, 00:08:09.430 --> 00:08:13.103 I realized that not one, not one of us, 00:08:13.103 --> 00:08:16.574 had ever dealt with a similar crisis. 00:08:16.574 --> 00:08:20.570 But worse, we were trapped by our collective ignorance. 00:08:20.570 --> 00:08:24.038 We were led by our fears. 00:08:24.038 --> 00:08:28.591 And our fears led to a blind faith 00:08:28.591 --> 00:08:31.756 in the orthodoxy of austerity. 00:08:31.756 --> 00:08:35.559 Instead of reaching out to the common 00:08:35.559 --> 00:08:38.939 or the collective wisdom in our societies, 00:08:38.939 --> 00:08:42.251 investing in it to find more creative solutions, 00:08:42.251 --> 00:08:44.811 we reverted to political posturing. 00:08:44.811 --> 00:08:46.417 And then we were surprised when every 00:08:46.417 --> 00:08:49.715 ad hoc new measure didn't bring an end to the crisis, 00:08:49.715 --> 00:08:52.644 and of course that made it very easy 00:08:52.644 --> 00:08:54.491 to look for a whipping boy 00:08:54.491 --> 00:08:56.289 for our collective European failure, 00:08:56.289 --> 00:08:59.643 and of course that was Greece. 00:08:59.643 --> 00:09:04.815 Those profligate, idle, ouzo-swilling, Zorba-dancing Greeks, 00:09:04.815 --> 00:09:07.880 they are the problem. Punish them! 00:09:07.880 --> 00:09:11.090 Well, a convenient but unfounded stereotype 00:09:11.090 --> 00:09:15.823 that sometimes hurt even more than austerity itself. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:15.823 --> 00:09:19.135 But let me warn you, this is not just about Greece. 00:09:19.135 --> 00:09:22.087 This could be the pattern 00:09:22.087 --> 00:09:24.593 that leaders follow again and again 00:09:24.593 --> 00:09:28.255 when we deal with these complex, cross-border problems, 00:09:28.255 --> 00:09:31.975 whether it's climate change, whether it's migration, 00:09:31.975 --> 00:09:35.039 whether it's the financial system. 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:37.625 That is, abandoning our collective power 00:09:37.625 --> 00:09:39.504 to imagine our potential, 00:09:39.504 --> 00:09:43.683 falling victims to our fears, our stereotypes, our dogmas, 00:09:43.683 --> 00:09:45.943 taking our citizens out of the process 00:09:45.943 --> 00:09:50.115 rather than building the process around our citizens. 00:09:50.115 --> 00:09:52.587 And doing so will only test the faith 00:09:52.587 --> 00:09:54.995 of our citizens, of our peoples, even more 00:09:54.995 --> 00:09:57.557 in the democratic process. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:57.557 --> 00:09:59.255 It's no wonder that many political leaders, 00:09:59.255 --> 00:10:01.773 and I don't exclude myself, 00:10:01.773 --> 00:10:04.851 have lost the trust of our people. 00:10:04.851 --> 00:10:08.414 When riot police have to protect parliaments, 00:10:08.414 --> 00:10:12.611 a scene which is increasingly common around the world, 00:10:12.611 --> 00:10:17.361 then there's something deeply wrong with our democracies. 00:10:17.361 --> 00:10:21.266 That's why I called for a referendum to have the Greek people 00:10:21.266 --> 00:10:25.502 own and decide on the terms of the rescue package. 00:10:25.502 --> 00:10:27.405 My European counterparts, some of them, at least, 00:10:27.405 --> 00:10:29.390 said, "You can't do this. 00:10:29.390 --> 00:10:33.938 There will be havoc in the markets again." 00:10:33.938 --> 00:10:38.194 I said, "We need to, before we restore confidence in the markets, 00:10:38.194 --> 00:10:43.782 we need to restore confidence and trust amongst our people." NOTE Paragraph 00:10:43.782 --> 00:10:46.550 Since leaving office, I have had time to reflect. 00:10:46.550 --> 00:10:51.670 We have weathered the storm, in Greece and in Europe, 00:10:51.670 --> 00:10:54.243 but we remain challenged. 00:10:54.243 --> 00:10:57.702 If politics is the power to imagine and use our potential, 00:10:57.702 --> 00:11:01.846 well then 60-percent youth unemployment in Greece, 00:11:01.846 --> 00:11:04.816 and in other countries, certainly is a lack of imagination 00:11:04.816 --> 00:11:07.282 if not a lack of compassion. 00:11:07.282 --> 00:11:09.823 So far, we've thrown economics at the problem, 00:11:09.823 --> 00:11:12.134 actually mostly austerity, 00:11:12.134 --> 00:11:15.364 and certainly we could have designed alternatives, 00:11:15.364 --> 00:11:18.686 a different strategy, a green stimulus for green jobs, 00:11:18.686 --> 00:11:22.138 or mutualized debt, Eurobonds which would 00:11:22.138 --> 00:11:25.262 support countries in need from market pressures, 00:11:25.262 --> 00:11:28.134 these would have been much more viable alternatives. 00:11:28.134 --> 00:11:30.800 Yet I have come to believe that the problem is not so much 00:11:30.800 --> 00:11:34.759 one of economics as it is one of democracy. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:34.759 --> 00:11:36.347 So let's try something else. 00:11:36.347 --> 00:11:39.243 Let's see how we can bring people back to the process. 00:11:39.243 --> 00:11:42.346 Let's throw democracy at the problem. 00:11:42.346 --> 00:11:45.331 Again, the Ancient Greeks, with all their shortcomings, 00:11:45.331 --> 00:11:48.375 believed in the wisdom of the crowd 00:11:48.375 --> 00:11:51.266 at their best moments. In people we trust. 00:11:51.266 --> 00:11:54.609 Democracy could not work without the citizens 00:11:54.609 --> 00:11:58.982 deliberating, debating, taking on public responsibilities 00:11:58.982 --> 00:12:00.916 for public affairs. 00:12:00.916 --> 00:12:03.650 Average citizens often were chosen for citizen juries 00:12:03.650 --> 00:12:07.877 to decide on critical matters of the day. 00:12:07.877 --> 00:12:10.954 Science, theater, research, philosophy, 00:12:10.954 --> 00:12:13.037 games of the mind and the body, 00:12:13.037 --> 00:12:14.765 they were daily exercises. 00:12:14.765 --> 00:12:18.917 Actually they were an education for participation, 00:12:18.917 --> 00:12:22.457 for the potential, for growing the potential of our citizens. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:22.457 --> 00:12:26.993 And those who shunned politics, well, they were idiots. 00:12:26.993 --> 00:12:30.237 You see, in Ancient Greece, in ancient Athens, 00:12:30.237 --> 00:12:32.508 that term originated there. 00:12:32.508 --> 00:12:37.301 "Idiot" comes from the root "idio," oneself. 00:12:37.301 --> 00:12:40.544 A person who is self-centered, secluded, excluded, 00:12:40.544 --> 00:12:45.259 someone who doesn't participate or even examine public affairs. 00:12:45.259 --> 00:12:48.991 And participation took place in the agora, the agora having two meanings, 00:12:48.991 --> 00:12:55.368 both a marketplace and a place where there was political deliberation. 00:12:55.368 --> 00:12:59.424 You see, markets and politics then were one, unified, 00:12:59.424 --> 00:13:02.630 accessible, transparent, because they gave power to the people. 00:13:02.630 --> 00:13:07.593 They serve the demos, democracy. 00:13:07.593 --> 00:13:10.217 Above government, above markets 00:13:10.217 --> 00:13:12.746 was the direct rule of the people. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:12.746 --> 00:13:15.730 Today we have globalized the markets 00:13:15.730 --> 00:13:20.193 but we have not globalized our democratic institutions. 00:13:20.193 --> 00:13:24.626 So our politicians are limited to local politics, 00:13:24.626 --> 00:13:28.386 while our citizens, even though they see a great potential, 00:13:28.386 --> 00:13:32.866 are prey to forces beyond their control. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:32.866 --> 00:13:35.697 So how then do we reunite the two halves of the agora? 00:13:35.697 --> 00:13:37.937 How do we democratize globalization? 00:13:37.937 --> 00:13:40.506 And I'm not talking about the necessary reforms 00:13:40.506 --> 00:13:43.160 of the United Nations or the G20. 00:13:43.160 --> 00:13:45.641 I'm talking about, how do we secure the space, 00:13:45.641 --> 00:13:48.142 the demos, the platform of values, 00:13:48.142 --> 00:13:53.702 so that we can tap into all of your potential? NOTE Paragraph 00:13:53.702 --> 00:13:57.577 Well, this is exactly where I think Europe fits in. 00:13:57.577 --> 00:13:59.977 Europe, despite its recent failures, 00:13:59.977 --> 00:14:04.545 is the world's most successful cross-border peace experiment. 00:14:04.545 --> 00:14:07.792 So let's see if it can't be an experiment 00:14:07.792 --> 00:14:11.972 in global democracy, a new kind of democracy. 00:14:11.972 --> 00:14:15.082 Let's see if we can't design a European agora, 00:14:15.082 --> 00:14:17.614 not simply for products and services, 00:14:17.614 --> 00:14:20.857 but for our citizens, where they can work together, 00:14:20.857 --> 00:14:22.620 deliberate, learn from each other, 00:14:22.620 --> 00:14:25.836 exchange between art and cultures, 00:14:25.836 --> 00:14:29.535 where they can come up with creative solutions. 00:14:29.535 --> 00:14:32.705 Let's imagine that European citizens 00:14:32.705 --> 00:14:34.999 actually have the power to vote directly 00:14:34.999 --> 00:14:37.999 for a European president, 00:14:37.999 --> 00:14:41.483 or citizen juries chosen by lottery 00:14:41.483 --> 00:14:45.709 which can deliberate on critical and controversial issues, 00:14:45.709 --> 00:14:48.877 a European-wide referendum where our citizens, 00:14:48.877 --> 00:14:53.279 as the lawmakers, vote on future treaties. 00:14:53.279 --> 00:14:55.759 And here's an idea: 00:14:55.759 --> 00:14:58.683 Why not have the first truly European citizens 00:14:58.683 --> 00:15:00.703 by giving our immigrants, 00:15:00.703 --> 00:15:04.815 not Greek or German or Swedish citizenship, 00:15:04.815 --> 00:15:08.438 but a European citizenship? 00:15:08.438 --> 00:15:11.325 And make sure we actually empower 00:15:11.325 --> 00:15:14.104 the unemployed by giving them a voucher scholarship 00:15:14.104 --> 00:15:17.573 where they can choose to study anywhere in Europe. 00:15:17.573 --> 00:15:22.054 Where our common identity is democracy, 00:15:22.054 --> 00:15:27.018 where our education is through participation, 00:15:27.018 --> 00:15:30.491 and where participation builds trust 00:15:30.491 --> 00:15:34.462 and solidarity rather than exclusion and xenophobia. 00:15:34.462 --> 00:15:36.124 Europe of and by the people, 00:15:36.124 --> 00:15:40.222 a Europe, an experiment in deepening and widening 00:15:40.222 --> 00:15:43.238 democracy beyond borders. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:43.238 --> 00:15:47.076 Now, some might accuse me of being naive, 00:15:47.076 --> 00:15:51.947 putting my faith in the power and the wisdom of the people. 00:15:51.947 --> 00:15:56.716 Well, after decades in politics, I am also a pragmatist. 00:15:56.716 --> 00:15:59.272 Believe me, I have been, 00:15:59.272 --> 00:16:02.932 I am, part of today's political system, 00:16:02.932 --> 00:16:07.569 and I know things must change. 00:16:07.569 --> 00:16:11.857 We must revive politics as the power to imagine, 00:16:11.857 --> 00:16:17.080 reimagine, and redesign for a better world. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:19.894 But I also know that this disruptive force of change 00:16:19.894 --> 00:16:22.958 won't be driven by the politics of today. 00:16:22.958 --> 00:16:25.254 The revival of democratic politics 00:16:25.254 --> 00:16:29.674 will come from you, and I mean all of you. 00:16:29.674 --> 00:16:33.660 Everyone who participates in this global exchange of ideas, 00:16:33.660 --> 00:16:34.709 whether it's here in this room 00:16:34.709 --> 00:16:36.922 or just outside this room 00:16:36.922 --> 00:16:40.756 or online or locally, where everybody lives, 00:16:40.756 --> 00:16:44.076 everyone who stands up to injustice and inequality, 00:16:44.076 --> 00:16:46.796 everybody who stands up to those who preach 00:16:46.796 --> 00:16:49.060 racism rather than empathy, 00:16:49.060 --> 00:16:51.876 dogma rather than critical thinking, 00:16:51.876 --> 00:16:54.192 technocracy rather than democracy, 00:16:54.192 --> 00:16:57.167 everyone who stands up to the unchecked power, 00:16:57.167 --> 00:16:59.288 whether it's authoritarian leaders, 00:16:59.288 --> 00:17:02.724 plutocrats hiding their assets in tax havens, 00:17:02.724 --> 00:17:06.644 or powerful lobbies protecting the powerful few. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:06.644 --> 00:17:12.077 It is in their interest that all of us are idiots. 00:17:12.077 --> 00:17:13.563 Let's not be. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:13.563 --> 00:17:14.803 Thank you. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:14.803 --> 00:17:26.713 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:17:26.713 --> 00:17:28.626 Bruno Giussani: You seem to describe a political leadership 00:17:28.626 --> 00:17:30.811 that is kind of unprepared 00:17:30.811 --> 00:17:33.593 and a prisoner of the whims of the financial markets, 00:17:33.593 --> 00:17:35.953 and that scene in Brussels that you describe, to me, 00:17:35.953 --> 00:17:38.456 as a citizen, is terrifying. 00:17:38.456 --> 00:17:42.755 Help us understand how you felt after the decision. 00:17:42.755 --> 00:17:44.323 It was not a good decision, clearly, 00:17:44.323 --> 00:17:46.907 but how do you feel after that, not as the prime minister, 00:17:46.907 --> 00:17:49.096 but as George? NOTE Paragraph 00:17:49.096 --> 00:17:51.638 George Papandreou: Well, obviously there were constraints 00:17:51.638 --> 00:17:55.564 which didn't allow me or others to make 00:17:55.564 --> 00:17:57.004 the types of decisions we would have wanted, 00:17:57.004 --> 00:17:59.769 and obviously I had hoped that we would have the time 00:17:59.769 --> 00:18:01.476 to make the reforms which would have dealt 00:18:01.476 --> 00:18:03.969 with the deficit rather than trying to cut the deficit 00:18:03.969 --> 00:18:05.684 which was the symptom of the problem. 00:18:05.684 --> 00:18:07.883 And that hurt. That hurt because that, first of all, 00:18:07.883 --> 00:18:11.387 hurt the younger generation, and not only, 00:18:11.387 --> 00:18:13.324 many of them are demonstrating outside, 00:18:13.324 --> 00:18:14.948 but I think this is one of our problems. 00:18:14.948 --> 00:18:20.180 When we face these crises, we have kept the potential, 00:18:20.180 --> 00:18:23.315 the huge potential of our society out of this process, 00:18:23.315 --> 00:18:26.139 and we are closing in on ourselves in politics, 00:18:26.139 --> 00:18:28.885 and I think we need to change that, to really find 00:18:28.885 --> 00:18:33.058 new participatory ways using the great capabilities 00:18:33.058 --> 00:18:36.208 that now exist even in technology but not only in technology, 00:18:36.208 --> 00:18:39.349 the minds that we have, and I think we can find solutions 00:18:39.349 --> 00:18:41.156 which are much better, but we have to be open. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:41.156 --> 00:18:42.816 BG: You seem to suggest that the way forward 00:18:42.816 --> 00:18:46.427 is more Europe, and that is not to be an easy discourse 00:18:46.427 --> 00:18:48.150 right now in most European countries. 00:18:48.150 --> 00:18:51.877 It's rather the other way -- more closed borders 00:18:51.877 --> 00:18:54.307 and less cooperation and maybe even stepping out 00:18:54.307 --> 00:18:58.012 of some of the different parts of the European construction. 00:18:58.012 --> 00:18:59.951 How do you reconcile that? NOTE Paragraph 00:18:59.951 --> 00:19:02.380 GP: Well, I think one of the worst things that happened 00:19:02.380 --> 00:19:04.612 during this crisis is that we started a blame game. 00:19:04.612 --> 00:19:08.170 And the fundamental idea of Europe is that 00:19:08.170 --> 00:19:10.276 we can cooperate beyond borders, 00:19:10.276 --> 00:19:12.577 go beyond our conflicts and work together. 00:19:12.577 --> 00:19:18.546 And the paradox is that, because we have this blame game, 00:19:18.546 --> 00:19:21.726 we have less the potential to convince our citizens 00:19:21.726 --> 00:19:23.437 that we should work together, 00:19:23.437 --> 00:19:25.510 while now is the time when we really need 00:19:25.510 --> 00:19:27.278 to bring our powers together. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:27.278 --> 00:19:30.232 Now, more Europe for me is not simply 00:19:30.232 --> 00:19:31.687 giving more power to Brussels. 00:19:31.687 --> 00:19:35.560 It is actually giving more power to the citizens of Europe, 00:19:35.560 --> 00:19:39.408 that is, really making Europe a project of the people. 00:19:39.408 --> 00:19:41.976 So that, I think, would be a way to answer 00:19:41.976 --> 00:19:44.849 some of the fears that we have in our society. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:44.849 --> 00:19:46.372 BG: George, thank you for coming to TED. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:46.372 --> 00:19:49.558 GP: Thank you very much.BG: Thank you.(Applause)