Obama Speaks to Greek People on Final Foreign Trip as President

Riot police used teargas to disperse the around-7,000-strong crowd of protesters who had taken to the streets in central Athens on Tuesday.

Mr Pavlopoulos will host an official dinner for Mr Obama at the presidential mansion in the evening.

Underscoring the symbolism of the venue, Obama took an hour before his speech to tour the Acropolis, the home of the iconic hilltop Athens ruins that have become an enduring symbol of Western civilization itself.

“With diplomacy we joined Greece and almost 200 nations in the most ambitious agreement ever to save our planet from climate change”, he said.

Mr Obama insisted his vision – where “the future will be decided by what we have in common, rather than what leads us into conflict” – was the right one.

It was those forces that propelled Donald Trump to electoral victory in the United States last week, a fact Obama tacitly acknowledged even as he promoted a forward looking agenda.

“We strive to make all our partners understand that it is our duty to stay on the path of European integration, far from phobic syndromes and lack of solidarity, which can only undermine our common European future”, Pavlopoulos said.

Today, Obama is scheduled to tour the Acropolis and give a major speech about democracy and globalization before flying on to Berlin.

Obama’s remarks came in an hourlong news conference in Athens on his final trip overseas as president.

Trump has questioned the relevance of some of America’s paramount alliances, starting with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation; put the Paris climate-change accord in doubt by calling global warming “a hoax”, and sharply criticized the strenuously negotiated pact that Washington and five other countries signed with Iran to curb its nuclear program. “We have very different points of view but American democracy is bigger than any one person. and why in the coming weeks my administration will do everything we can to support the smoothest transition possible because that’s how democracy has to work”.

Obama’s comments are taking place prior to a meeting with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. The country’s left-of-center coalition government has been struggling to pull Greece out of a vicious six years long financial crisis that has devastated its economy and left more than a quarter of the workforce unemployed.

But after the near collapse of negotiations with Greece’s creditors, Tsipras performed a political about-face: He signed up to a new bailout and more austerity to prevent his country from being forced out of the euro currency.

President Barack Obama is delivering a speech to the people of Greece Wednesday as he continues his final foreign trip as USA leader.

The 5th century B.C. temple is surrounded these days by scaffolding as part of a maintenance project.

It’s the final stage for Obama’s two-day stop in Athens, where he was the first United States president to visit in 17 years.

Updated | Away from the confines of Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama has issued what could be interpreted as a warning about President-elect Donald Trump.

Among the dignitaries greeting the president were Greece’s minister of national defense, “Panos” Kammenos, and the USA ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey Pyatt.

The previous day, Obama advocated for debt relief from Europe and an end to austerity-only measures to help the economy recover, though it’s not clear where Trump will stand on those issues when he assumes office next year.

Greece signed up to a third 86 billion euro bailout a year ago. During his time in Berlin, he will also meet the leaders of Britain, France and Italy, as Europe desperately seeks clues to future U.S. policy in a Trump world. Many are living in poor conditions in massively overcrowded camps.

“We can not sever the connections that have enabled so much progress”, Obama said.