BOSTON – Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke at the 146th graduation ceremony of Boston College, held on Monday.

The Greek premier was one of this year’s honored personalities, and in his greeting he stated that it is a great honor for him to speak from the ceremony’s podium.

“I have faith in your generation, that you will not repeat the mistakes of the past,” he noted.

Mitsotakis said he had flown to the United States twice in one week, meeting with US President Joe Biden on May 16, and addressing Congress the next day.

“I am very happy to be here with you,” he continued, and he spoke about democracy and the threat of populism. “My generation thought that democracy would be easy, ignoring the fact that this requires constant effort,” he said, adding that “democracies are threatened by voices that offer easy solutions to difficult problems.”

He also spoke about social media and its current influence, adding that war in the European continent is causing pain and threatening a global recession, while also talking about climate change.

Addressing the university graduates, he said it is their duty to reinvent democracy, and urged them to not lose faith that they could change the future.

He even referred to verses from a song by Greek singer-songwriter Vassilis Papakonstantinou which says “I am afraid of everything that will happen to me without me” but also to Greek poet C.P. Cavafy’s ‘Ithaca’ which says that “it is not the destination that matters but the journey.”

“Make the world a better place, enjoy life and seek happiness,” he pointed out.

Finally, he observed that nothing will make these graduates happier than their relationships with other people, and he referred to the song ‘The End’ by The Beatles, and in particular the verse ‘and in the end, the love you get is equal to the love you give.’