The real acquaintance with Papandreou began after he made me Deputy Minister of the government in 1982 and took shape mainly due to the travels we did together, where we inevitably exchanged views and discussions that very few of his associates had the opportunity to engage in with him.

Primarily, I believe that few had the chance to hear him speak on all matters beyond his close circle, who certainly know things pertaining to his private life far more than anyone else could know, but I ultimately do not think that these things should concern us.

The space we will try to bring to life through these pages is everything concerning Papandreou as a great leader of a country that was striving to integrate into the European unification process. Some of what we had discussed or done together, which lies in that intermediate space between public policy and purely personal life, I believe is revealing of how this great man thought and decided.

At the same time, always in relation to Papandreou's actions and Greece's presence in the arenas he moved in with me, we will also address other great European politicians and some smaller ones. The period that concerns us is decisive for Greece's accession to the European family and for the existence of the European structure.

I do not intend to perform a historical task. Most of what I will write here many of my friends have heard me recount. If today I feel the need to record them, it is because they encouraged me each time to do so, so they would not be lost, not so much because my personal experience had great significance, but because it pertains to this great politician and to this great trajectory of Greece towards Europe.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the publication]