Here’s a translation of what Eleni Bistika, columnist at Greek national newspaper Kathimerini, wrote about us. Many thanks to Stella Merti for helping us with the translation. For our Greek readers, here’s the original.
When the Nea Dimokratia party gathered for the anniversary of former Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis (honoured with the Charlemagne Prize) on 23rd April 2012, three Germans captured the attention while observing the event in the impressive garden of Karamanlis Foundation. Among the attending were Ex-Prime Minister, Konstantinos Karamanlis junior, the President of Nea Dimokratia who is a relative of the founder of Benaki Museum and great-grandchild of the writer Penelope Delta, and a great number of ministers. Although the visitor’s book was open for the guests’ comments, it is unknown whether the three Germans – a baron, and a “von” – have signed.
The three young men visited Athens as part of their Blog Euroskop, a journalistic journey in the search for “young visions for Europe”. They visit over 20 capitals, including Istanbul, but leaving out Cyprus which belongs to the EU.
Their goal is to discuss with politicians, journalists and public intellectuals as well as Greek youngsters about how Greeks perceive Europe and their future plans in the Eurozone.
As Greece is facing elections on 6th May, they raised quite a few questions towards the young Greek population. One, for instance, is about the protests and whether they express euro-scepticism or optimism. How do young Greeks differ from their parents in their identification with Europe? What do they say and think as fas the European project is concerned? “With reservations” is their laconic answer.
Interestingly enough, Euroskop derives from Greek evroskopos, that’s why it is spelled with a “k”. All that guided by their motto: “Youth wants to be described, in order to have the chance to be different” (Jean Paul Sartre).
The photo shows Damian Freiherr von Boeselager, Bernhard Clemm von Hohenberg and Jan Stoeckmann. They were charming and polite; and soon we will have the chance to write more about them, as they will give an interview to the “K-journal” of the Sunday Kathimerini paper.
They want to explore Greece in order to better know both the people and the country. They have chosen quite difficult times
Notice: This is only a rough translation, also correcting some mistakes in the original piece. We are indebted to Stella for translating while any errors remain ours.
