Former United States Ambassador to Greece Nicholas Burns “returned” virtually to Greece to participate in a conference hosted by the Hellenic American University in Athens on Friday, September 21, 2018.
Burns, who was US Ambassador to Athens for four years in the late 1990s addressed the conference via Skype, leveling harsh criticism against US President Donald Trump for coddling far-right and anti-democratic movements in Italy, Hungary, Poland and elsewhere in Europe.
He also said that Europe hadn’t done enough to help Greece during the refugee and migrant crisis.
Leonidas Koskos, president of the Hellenic American University opened the Europe in Discourse II: Agendas of Reform conference with a welcome address that noted the long history his institution played in representing and nurturing U.S.-Greek relations in the heart of Athens.
The university, which evolved out of the Hellenic American Union, is a fully-accredited American institution of higher learning in central Athens.
“At the center of the College’s attention lies Europe, the important role Europe plays in the foreign policy of the United States of America, and the key contribution of the United States to the founding and evolution of the European Union,” President Koskos told the gathered guests, including Dimitris Avramopoulos, the EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship.
Leonidas Koskos, President of the Hellenic American University
Burns spoke at length about the relationship between the United States and Europe, with special emphasis during his remarks about Greece and the role Athens has played over the decades.
Burns’ entire speech is here:
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