The more unity we have, the more tangible Russian defeats are the President of Ukraine at the Athenian Democratic Forum
And it is in this appeal that it is to the Athenian Democratic Forum that I want to say that I am sure that we will be able to guarantee the future for democracy, we will be able to protect it. We can, because we know what gives democracy a force that serves her heart, which provides for the supply of freedom, as blood, every part of a democratic society - every person. This is unity. Unity is the most important thing.
Democracy is the rule of law, it is respect, it is procedures, it is equality of free and freedom for all. But all this works only if unity, only then all this is saturated with real freedom, all this is strong. Unity makes democracy alive. When societies are fully atomized, when there are no stable connections between peoples, when someone can not come to the aid of another in the democratic community, democracy weakens, does not have time, disintegrates. We have seen it more than once in history.
They saw how a small but energetic and maximum united tyrannical minority or party is able to conquer the public majority if most people are scattered and not trusting each other. We saw some democracy not to interfere when there was a threat to other democracies, but then everyone had to defend themselves, not just those who threatened something at the beginning.
We have seen that people can be disappointed in democracy if they feel inequality and humiliation if people lose their emotional connection with their representatives in power. This can be a fascination with someone autocratic. And then?. This has happened in Russia in the last 30 years. Therefore, unity is a universal answer. Unity in society is that people feel with each other, that people have common and that this common to develop, giving more freedom, more comfort, more well -being.
Unity between societies, between states. All democracy must act, be a real community, should help each other when necessary. It is not only a question of relations between the leaders of the state. This is not a question who is historically related or unrelated. It is a matter of struggle for the democratic system. When we are really together, no one will be an insurmountable threat to us.
We see it now in the war that Russia has been resolved against our people and against our common democratic system. The more unity we have, the more Russian defeat. And the third element is very important for every democratic country - the unity between those in whose hands the power and those who entrusted that power. Democracy does not live in power offices and not even in the parliamentary hall. Democracy lives between people.
And that is why it is so important that there are no isolated groups in societies-whether it is a ruling group or any other privileged groups, or any unintegrated minorities. After the full -scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine, we managed to reach the largest unity of Europe and the democratic community of the world in decades. But the largest - does not mean maximum. We have something to do to enhance our unity. And every such step towards strengthening is a step to protect democracy.