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Costas Simitis expressed his doubt that Cyprus and Greece had learnt from the past. "The people who had supported the coup in 1974 were the same ones who wanted Athens to declare war on Turkey in 1997, during the crisis of the rock islands of Imia. Today they are urging Greece to unilaterally declare the boundaries of its exclusive economic zone in order for it to benefit from the alleged oil and repay its public debt. What should be clear to all is that if we do not cooperate with each other within the country we cannot inspire confidence in our international partners. Greece needs to acquire a culture of cooperation as it will be able to solve its problems in this way only."

In his brief speech, George Vassiliou expressed his gratitude for the discussion and said that since his autobiography had provoked such a discussion it was really worth writing it. According to him, his success as a professional and President was "the result of the knowledge that my parents have inspired in me, namely that in order for you to deal with a problem you have to make the necessary decision."

The former President of Cyprus expressed his regret that the government in Nicosia had not listened to the few voices which had warned, in due time, about the coming financial disaster. "I also wrote an article about what we could do without going so far as to sign the Memorandum and I became the target of criticism. Unfortunately, we, the bad ones, proved to be right."

However, he expressed confidence that Cyprus and Greece will be able to emerge from the hard economic situation. "I have always believed that you should not stop whatever the difficulties are. You must believe that you will succeed. If you yourself decide that you are doomed to failure then you have no future."