The 4th Athens Democracy Forum (ADF) kicked off on Wednesday with some strong opinions by American economist and op-ed columnist for The New York Times Paul Krugman, who declared that Greece would be better off outside the eurozone.

The statement was in response to a question posed by executive editor of Greek newspaper Kathimerini Alexis Papachelas, to which he added: “the question is academic… it won’t happen.”

The Nobel Prize-winning economist went on to say that European elites are strongly committed to maintaining the integrity of the euro area, and that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ reluctance to remove Greece from the equation, had depleted the debt-hit country’s bargaining power, reports Kathimerini.

Day two of the forum saw the country’s former Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis go head to head in a heated debate with Google’s Global Head of International Relations, Ross LaJeunesse.

In the panel discussion on the relationship between democracy and enterprises chaired by Krugman, matters got heated when Varoufakis characterised European inter-governance as a “cartel”.

He said this prevented the adoption of policies that would alleviate the effects of the European crisis, and that such policies would be adopted if Europe was more democratic.

However, the former minister really struck a chord when he said that the era of Google and Apple had led to “shrinkage of competition and huge concentration of economic and political power”.

LaJeunesse didn’t shy away from responding with a host of benefits that Google’s services offered to democracy, among which he noted the decentralisation of power.

On Thursday night after participating in a discussion panel with Roger Cohen of the New York Times and European Commissioner for Migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, executive director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth was presented with the first City of Athens Democracy Award.

Roth was recognised for his contribution to democracy thanks to his lifelong commitment to human rights.

The conference will draw to a close today, with the second part of the event moving on to the Costa Navarino luxury resort in Pylos.

There, participants will have the chance to enjoy a jam-packed weekend of philosophical walks, guided archaeological and historical tours to the landmarks of the region, and olive oil tastings.

A panel discussion on Architecture and Democracy is also scheduled to take place, and will be moderated by Roger Cohen, featuring Krugman; urbanist Charles Landry; urbanist, author and architect Patrik Schumacher of Zaha Hadid Architects; and the University of Crete’s emeritus professor of archaeology, Petros Themelis.

The ADF is organised by The New York Times in cooperation with the United Nations Democracy Fund, the City of Athens and Kathimerini.

For more information on the ADF, visit www.athensdemocracyforum.com