The President of the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD) Vuk Jeremić participated today in an international conference entitled Democracy Under Pressure, held in Athens. The conference, which gathered a considerable number of political and business leaders and esteemed scientists and media representatives, was jointly organized by the Athens Forum, the UN Democracy Fund, and the New York Times.
Jeremić participated in a panel entitled Money and Votes: Does Economic Crisis Undermine Democracy?, alongside former Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis and former Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, as well as a former U.S. ambassador to Hungary, Eleni Kounalakis Tsakopoulos.
In his remarks, the CIRSD President said that the world now stands at the end of an era known as the post-Cold War period, adding that the vast majority of challenges lying ahead will be global in character—issues will be able to be addressed only through intensive international cooperation and by strengthening the role of multilateral institutions.
Jeremić said that “democracy remains the most efficient means of solving social and economic problems,” adding that states practicing other cultures and traditions deserve to be treated respectfully. Jeremić further underlined that democracy is not to be understood solely in the procedural sense, emphasizing that a truly democratic society needs to provide dignity and equality of opportunity through making education more available, respecting the principles of solidarity and inclusion, and reducing social inequality. The CIRSD President argued that Southern Europe requires additional incentives for economic growth in order to avoid creating a permanent division on the European Continent between developed and underdeveloped parts.
Other participants of the Democarcy Under Pressure conference include the current Prime Minister of Greece Antonis Samaras, Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, Greek Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos, the mayor of Athens Giorgos Kaminis, and Roger Cohen from the New York Times.
