Galery

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According to Lucas Papademos, Greece has currently overcome the middle of the road to economic recovery. However, he recalls that like in a marathon, the last metres of the race against time may be the most severe.

The closing speech before the official awarding of the former Prime Minister of Greece was delivered by current Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras. "I believe that Lucas Papademos will be one of those persons whom history will reward for his contribution to the country and beyond its boundaries," said Stournaras and then presented a brief picture of how he sees Greece beyond the financial crisis. The entire hall greeted the award with applause, which marked the end of the ninety-minute ceremony. An official dinner followed during which bankers, politicians and businessmen were able to exchange views on the course of the country.

The prominent guests’ luxury cars were parked in front of the main entrance of the Foundation and the personal guards and drivers of the honoured guests were walking around them. They were smoking cigarettes, talking to each other and keeping an eye on every movement around the building. The attention of the guard was particularly strong at the beginning of the ceremony, when about 200 people had gathered in front of the Latsis Foundation to protest against the award of Papademos.

An hour before the official event, representatives of Panos Kamenos’ Independent Greeks party tried to boycott the ceremony. The people, who had gathered outside, were chanting and booing the guests entering through the front entrance of the gala dinner. Two armoured buses of riot police forces had closed off the meeting, which was to boo Papademos. There were no serious clashes or injured. The protesters were holding posters reading "Out with the thieves" and "Down with the IMF" as well as a large one with the sign of Independent Greeks, which read, "They are rewarding the traitors in order not to punish them." At the end of the official part of the ceremony at 10:30 pm, the spirits were calmed, the protesters had left and the guards were peacefully awaiting the end of the dinner.