George Papandreou
George Andreas Papandreou (Greek: Γεώργιος Ανδρέας Παπανδρέου,[2][3][4] pronounced [ʝeˈorʝios papanˈðreu], shortened to Giorgos (Γιώργος) [ˈʝorɣos] to distinguish him from his grandfather; born 16 June 1952) is an American-born Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2009 to 2011. He is currently serving as an MP for Movement for Change.
For George Papandreou's namesake grandfather, see Georgios Papandreou.
George Papandreou
Kostas Karamanlis
Kostas Karamanlis
Office established
Greek
- Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Before 2015)
- Movement of Democratic Socialists (2015–present)
-
Eva Zissimidou(m. 1976; div. 1987)
-
Ada Papapanou(m. 1989; div. 2016)
2
Andreas Papandreou (father)
Margaret Chant-Papandreou (mother)
Belonging to a political dynasty of long standing, he served under his father, then-prime minister Andreas Papandreou as Minister for National Education and Religious Affairs (1988–1989 and 1994–1996). He served as Minister for Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Costas Simitis from 1999 to 2004. Papandreou was leader of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) party, which his father founded, from February 2004 until March 2012, and has been President of the Socialist International from 30 January 2006 to 25 November 2022.[5]
On 6 October 2009, George Papandreou became the 182nd Prime Minister of Greece. He was the third member of the Papandreou family to serve as the country's prime minister, following his father Andreas and his grandfather Georgios Papandreou. He resigned on 11 November 2011 during the Greek government debt crisis to make way for a national unity government.
In March 2012, he resigned as leader of PASOK, and in January 2015, he left the party completely, founding his own political party, the Movement of Democratic Socialists (KIDISO), which was the 8th most voted-for party in the January 2015 elections, but did not manage to enter Parliament. In 2017, KIDISO joined the Democratic Alignment, a political alliance formed by PASOK and other centre-left parties. Democratic Alignment later evolved into Movement for Change, which in the 2019 elections was the third most voted-for party, with Papandreou himself returning to Parliament as an MP representing the region of Achaea.
Early life and education[edit]
Papandreou was born 16 June 1952 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, where his father, Andreas Papandreou, at that time held a professorship at the University of Minnesota. His mother is the American-born Margaret Papandreou, née Chant. He renounced his US citizenship in 2000.[6]
He received his secondary education at schools in Illinois in the United States, in Sweden, and graduated from King City Secondary School[7] (near Toronto) in Canada in 1970.[8] He attended Amherst College in Massachusetts (where he was a friend and dormitory roommate of future political rival and prime minister of Greece himself, Antonis Samaras[9]), Stockholm University, the London School of Economics and Harvard University. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from Amherst (1975) and a master's degree in sociology from the LSE (1977). He was a researcher on immigration issues at Stockholm University in 1972–73. He was also a fellow of the Foreign Relations Center of Harvard University in 1992–93.
In 2002 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws by Amherst College and in 2006 he was named distinguished professor in the Center for Hellenic Studies by Georgia State College of Arts and Science.
Papandreou's father studied and worked as professor of economics from 1939 to 1959. His paternal grandfather, Georgios Papandreou, was a three-time prime minister of Greece.
President of PASOK (2004–2012)[edit]
In anticipation of the 2004 national elections in Greece, polls indicated that PASOK was very likely to lose as the conservative New Democracy party was heading towards a landslide. In January 2004, the incumbent PM Costas Simitis announced his resignation as leader of PASOK, and passed the leadership to Papandreou by recommending him as the new leader. On 8 February 2004 PASOK introduced for the first time the procedure of open primaries for the election of party leadership. Even if Papandreou had no opponent, this was a move designed to solidify the open primaries, democratize the party, and make a clean break with the tradition of "dynastic politics".
In May 2005, Papandreou was elected Vice President of the Socialist International following a proposal by the former president, António Guterres. In January 2006, Papandreou was unanimously elected President of the Socialist International.
In the 2007 general election, PASOK again lost to the incumbent New Democracy party of Kostas Karamanlis and Papandreou's leadership was challenged by Evangelos Venizelos and Kostas Skandalidis. Papandreou, however, retained his party's leadership at a leadership election in November.
In June 2009 and under his leadership, his party won the 2009 European Parliament election in Greece.[14] Four months later, PASOK won the October 2009 general elections with 43.92% of the popular vote to ND's 33.48%, and 160 parliament seats to 91.[15]
Comeback aspirations[edit]
In August 2012, Papandreou was re-elected President of the Socialist International at its congress in Cape Town.[50] Within domestic politics, he however remained largely sidelined within PASOK, while still an ordinary Member of the Hellenic Parliament.[51]
On 2 January 2015, Papandreou announced his aspirations to return to high-profile domestic politics. Launching his new party Movement of Democratic Socialists to contest the 25 January 2015 parliamentary elections, he confirmed the long-expected breakup with PASOK.[52]
While his decision was fiercely criticized by PASOK officials,[52] Papandreou referred to the extraordinary situation with the country facing important challenges amidst a highly polarized political situation. He said that under these circumstances he "needed to make a bold political choice. PASOK, the party I belonged to since my youth, and led for many years, had become assimilated into conservative practices and policies."[53]
Receiving only 2.46% of the electoral vote, Papandreou's new party however fell short of the 3% electoral threshold. His failure to be reelected marks the first time since 1923 where a representative of the Papandreou political dynasty is not present in the Hellenic Parliament.[54] Following the election he said in a BBC Newsnight interview that his conscience was clear: "I was able to save Greece from default."[55]
In March 2017, at the Congress of the Socialist International that took place in Cartagena, Colombia, Papandreou was unanimously re-elected President of the organization.
He is also co-chair of the Democratic Alignment, a coalition of the center left parties in Greece, composed by the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), the Democratic Left (DIMAR) and the Movement of Democratic Socialists.[56]
In May 2017, Papandreou delivered the keynote speech to the European Association of Political Consultants (EAPC) in Brussels.[57][58]
On 20 October 2021, Papandreou announced his candidacy for the leadership of Movement for Change (Greece).[59]
