Three-day conference on ‘50 Years of the Metapolitefsi’ – Day 2, Part 1

The second day of the conference commemorating the 50th anniversary of the restoration of Greek democracy – a period known as the Metapolitefsi – is being held on Friday at the National Gallery in Athens.

Entitled “50 Years of the Metapolitefsi,” the conference is jointly organized by Kathimerini newspaper, the National Bank Cultural Foundation (MIET), the Delphi Economic Forum, and the Hellenic Observatory at the European Institute of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

The anniversary of the fall of the military dictatorship in 1974 and the subsequent restoration of democracy in Greece presents an excellent opportunity for leading politicians, academics, experts, and journalists to reflect, take stock, and assess where the country stands five decades later.

Participants in a series of discussions reflecting on the past and future include Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and former prime ministers George Papandreou, Lucas Papademos, Panagiotis Pikrammenos, Antonis Samaras, and Alexis Tsipras.

The first session of the second day of the conference will commence at 9.45 a.m. with a presentation by Kevin Featherstone, professorial research fellow and director of the Hellenic Observatory at the European Institute of the LSE, on “Greece seen from abroad – Foreign discourses on the Metapolitefsi.”

At 10.15 a.m., the conference will feature a debate on the environment involving Environment Minister Theodoros Skylakakis, former alternate minister of energy and environment Sokratis Famelos, former energy and environment minister Ioannis Maniatis, president of the Technical Chamber of Greece George Stasinos, Lydia Carra, founder and vice president of Elliniki Etairia, Society for the Environment and Cultural Heritage, and Dimitris Vayanos, professor of finance at the LSE. The debate will be chaired by Kathimerini journalist Giorgos Lialios.

At 12 p.m., there will be a debate on foreign policy and Greece’s ties to the EU, involving former deputy prime minister Evangelos Venizelos, former foreign ministers Dora Bakoyannis and Nikos Kotzias, Constantinos Filis, director of the ACG Institute of Global Affairs and professor of international relations at the American College of Greece (ACS), Konstantina Botsiou, professor of history and international relations at the University of Piraeus, and director of the Council for International Relations. The debate will be moderated by Tom Ellis, editor-in-chief of Kathimerini English Edition.

The full program is available here.