In joint article in Kathimerini, presidents Pavlopoulos and Steinmeier call for more unity in Europe

This is already our second meeting in Athens as our countries' heads of state. This place compares to no other in Europe with regard to our deep, common roots, which extend far beyond relations between Germany and Greece. Today's Europe would be inconceivable without the Greek legacy or without the Athenian democracy of Pericles.

However, we are meeting under special circumstances today. Circumstances that make us realize completely that democracy, which has its origins here and which we took for granted in its contemporary form in years past, as the foundation of our societies, is being challenged today, and that we have to fight for democracy - and sometimes we have to literally defend it - every day anew. Our values and convictions have been under pressure to an extent not witnessed since the end of the Cold War. Authoritarian thinking, which we thought we had overcome...