PM Mitsotakis participates in the podcast 'Tools and Weapons

During their discussion, they talked about the changes that have taken place in Greece as a result of the economic recovery after a decade of recession, the digital transformation and, as Brad Smith pointed out, about "Greece's ambition to digitally preserve ancient cultural sites and the work it takes to protect one of oldest and best inventions that Greece has contributed: democracy itself."

"...We are looking towards the end of 2022. It's been a momentous year, it's been a number of very successful years here in Greece. I's like to start with that: We, at Microsoft, I think, had the benefit of realising, perhaps just a little bit before some others, just how remarkable the economic resurgence has been here in Greece," Brad Smith said.

He noted that technology, along with public policy - including electricity policy, carbon dioxide emissions policy - will continue to drive Greece into the future.

Smith remarked that Greece has given so much to the world. People think about the Olympics, food, philosophy, science, but the greatest gift that Greece has given the world is democracy, he stressed, and asked the prime minister about his thoughts on the state of democracy, the health of democracy around the world, its "intersection" with the technological era in which we all live.

On his part, Mitsotakis replied: I have a lot of thoughts on this topic. Sometimes it is important to go back to ancient Greece and see what the thinkers who essentially put down on paper what ancient Greek democracy was all about, what were they thinking. If you still read Pericles' Funeral [Oration], it is essentially the challenges faced by a democracy which is [being] attacked by an authoritarian regime. It is an extremely relevant text. I think it should be mandatory reading, especially for all elected politicians."

The Greek prime minister added that "our democracy is facing challenges and needs to demonstrate that it's resilient. We live in a toxic environment where this debate can be very polarised. At the same time we also need to be aware that sometimes all this toxicity of the social media sphere is not necessarily what people thinking about and what they care about."

Mitsotakis concluded: "Now people care about the cost of living. They care about their fuel bills, they care about health care. They don't necessarily care about politicians fighting with each other.... sometimes, we need to be aware that within the "bubble" of the political discourse there is another reality which craves for real solutions to real problems. One needs to be very cognizant of the fact that, at the end of the day, our job is to make people's lives better and to solve problems. And we will be judged, I believe, on our ability to produce real results."