The fruits of philanthropy are valuable to our democracy because they can protect and inspire political and creative pluralism, while also allowing the country to be active in international dialogue, argues Professor George Pagoulatos, Director General of ELIAMEP, in an article for the newspaper Kathimerini. Pagoulatos is in favor of raising funds from private capital to finance public goods, but notes that this practice must be accompanied by rigorous and rational criteria. Pagoulatos explains that think tanks produce scientifically substantiated studies that not only promote public dialogue, but also increase the quality of public policy and ultimately democracy. Three of the largest think tanks in Greece are ELIAMEP, IOBE and DiaNEOSis and none of them is state-owned, while a recent international evaluation by the University of Pennsylvania (link here) ranked ELIAMEP 49th in the world when it comes to networking with international think tanks. This proves that serious and valid think tanks are valuable because they act as a window towards Europe and the world, emphasizes Pagoulatos.
You can find the full article in Greek here.