Costas Simitis
Encyclopedia
Konstantinos Simitis (born 23 June 1936), usually referred to as Costas Simitis or Kostas Simitis, was Prime Minister of Greece
and leader of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement
(PASOK) from 1996 to 2004.
. Ηe was born in Piraeus
to Georgios Simitis, a Professor at the School of Economic and Commercial Sciences, and to his wife Fani (née Christopoulou). He studied Law at the University of Marburg in Germany and economics at the London School of Economics
. He is married to Daphne Arkadiou (b. 1938)and has two daughters, Fiona and Marilena. His brother Spiros Simitis is a prominent jurist
specializing on data privacy
in Germany. He currently resides in the Kolonaki district of Athens.
" political research group . In 1967, after the military coup of 21 April, this group was transformed into Democratic Defense
, an organization opposed to the military regime. Simitis escaped abroad after planting bombs in the streets of Athens (in later years he acknowledged his activities on Greek MEGA TV channel) in order to avoid being jailed and became a member of the Panhellenic Liberation Movement
(PAK), led by Andreas Papandreou
. He also took up a position as university lecturer in Germany. He returned to Athens in 1974 and was one of the co-founders of PAK's successor, the PASOK
. In 1977 he took up a lecturer's post at the Panteion University
.
, but he was appointed Minister of Agriculture in the first PASOK government of that year. Following the 1985 elections
and his election as a deputy to the Parliament, he became Minister of National Economy; he undertook an unpopular stabilization program, trying to curb inflation and reduce deficits, but resigned his post in 1987 because he felt that his policies were being undermined. In 1993 he took over the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, but in 1995 he again resigned from the ministry and the party's Executive Bureau following a public rebuke he received by Prime Minister Papandreou
.
and Ioannis Charalampopoulos. Papandreou however remained Chairman of the party for the next months until his death on 23 June, just before a party conference would select the party's vice-president; after Papandreou's death, the conference would elect the new Party President. Simitis was elected in PASOK's Fourth Congress on 30 June, defeating Akis Tsochatzopoulos on a platform of support for the European Union
.
Simitis then led the party in the national elections
of 22 September 1996, gaining a mandate in his own right. He also narrowly won the national election of 2000. Although he is widely respected throughout Europe, in Greece Simitis was regarded by some Greeks as a rather dull technocrat, lacking the charisma of Papandreou.
On 7 January 2004, with PASOK's popularity collapsing, Simitis announced that he would resign as party president and would not stand for re-election a Prime Minister in the forthcoming legislative elections
. At the time he was accused of bowing out to avoid humiliation at the polls. However, by the end of his tenure on 10 March, he would be in office for over 8 consecutive years, the longest continuous term in modern Greek history. In a past interview Simitis had already stated that he would remain prime minister for only 2 legislative periods, since "he wanted to do other things in his life as well". On 8 January he called elections for the position of party president to be held on 8 February. Simitis was succeeded as PASOK leader by then-Minister of Foreign Affairs George Papandreou
, the only candidate in these elections. Despite Papandreou's personal popularity, PASOK lost the March 7 elections
to the conservative New Democracy
party, whose leader Kostas Karamanlis succeeded Simitis in the office of Prime Minister.
works as well as economic and labor reforms. Simitis is credited by his supporters with overcoming chronic problems of the Greek economy and thus achieving the admittance of Greece into the Eurozone
. During the period of his governance, official data presented inflation as having decreased from 15% to 3%, public deficits diminished from 14% to 3%, GDP increasing at an annual average of 4% and factual labor incomes having increased at a rate of 3% per year. However, the macroeconomic data presented by Simitis' government were called into question by an audit performed by the successor government of New Democracy in 2004. Eurostat
concluded in 2006 that the public deficit of the Greek economy amounted to 6,1% in 2003, more than double the percentage presented by Simitis' government.http://www.naftemporiki.gr/news/static/06/10/23/1257719.htm The results of the audit concluded that the PASOK administration used different accounting methods, especially for calculating the military expenses during its term. The government of New Democracy used the revised data as a means to criticize the previous government for incompetent economic policy and a falsification of an economic indicator, namely the public deficit, which among other criteria was used as a basis on which Greece was accepted into the Eurozone. PASOK contested the accusations and claimed that 2006 Eurostat changes to the system of defense expenditure calculation http://www.hri.org/news/greek/ana/2006/06-03-10.ana.html#16 legitimized the practices of the Simitis government. New Democracy responded that the defense expenditures covered by those changes constituted only a small part of much more substantial expenditures that were fraudulently concealed by the PASOK government. Whether Simitis' government conducted any unconventional handling of Greek fiscal data continues to be a hotly contested issue between the two political parties.
A major issue during Simitis' tenure concerned corruption, which has become endemic in Greek public life. Simitis rejected New Democracy's bills for accountability and transparency with regards to governmental expenditure and decisions http://www.bbc.co.uk/greek/news/031125_vouli.shtml, and New Democracy leader Kostas Karamanlis accused Simitis during a parliamentary plenum of being an "archpriest of cronyism", referencing the index of the NGO Transparency International
. However, Greece's position has fallen by 5 places in the same index during the New Democracy government. Four years later Karamanlis himself admitted that he exaggerated and that he never doubted Simitis' honesty http://news.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100070_02/09/2007_239755.
Many large-scale infrastructure projects were carried out or begun during the so-called 'era of Eksychronismos', such as the new "Eleftherios Venizelos" Athens International Airport, the Rio-Antirio bridge
, the Athens Metro
, or the Egnatia Odos
.
" newspaper editor, Stavros Psycharis, as political administrator of Mount Athos
was particularly criticised by the opposition http://archive.enet.gr/1996/11/19/on-line/keimena/politiko/pol6.htm. In 2000, Simitis was embroiled in a dispute with the Archbishop of the influential Greek Orthodox Church, Christodoulos
, when the Greek government sought to remove the "Religion" field from the national ID cards carried by Greek citizens on the grounds that the Hellenic Data Protection Authority (HDPA) recommended so; its decision also included the "Nationality" field, but was not implemented following a subsequent EE directive to the contrary. Christodoulos opposed the decision, claiming that the action pursued deviously the religious de-identification of the Greek nation. Faced by the government's robust but unpopular stance, he organised two massive demonstrations in Athens
and Thessaloniki
, alongside a majority of bishops of the Church of Greece. The attitude of Simitis gained faint-hearted support even within his party, but found a surprisingly militant ally in the small Left Coalition party echoing the Eksychronismos opinion makers.The then-opposition leader signed a petition, organized by the Church of Greece
, calling for a referendum on the matter and signed, too, by more than three million citizens. However, the inclusion of religious beliefs on ID cards, even on a voluntary basis, as the Church had asked, was subsequently subsided, with its supporters' contribution, to appease extra tensions in the country.
, and also his relative moderation on issues such as the Cyprus dispute
and the Macedonia naming dispute
, his supporters saw both of these as positive elements of the eksynchronismos movement that Simitis was seen as spearheading.
During January–June 2003, Simitis, as Greek Prime Minister, exercised the presidency of the European Council
.
Prime Minister of Greece
The Prime Minister of Greece , officially the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic , is the head of government of the Hellenic Republic and the leader of the Greek cabinet. The current interim Prime Minister is Lucas Papademos, a former Vice President of the European Central Bank, following...
and leader of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement
Panhellenic Socialist Movement
The Panhellenic Socialist Movement , known mostly by its acronym PASOK , is one of the two major political parties in Greece. Founded on 3 September 1974 by Andreas Papandreou, in 1981 PASOK became Greece's first social democratic party to win a majority in parliament.The party is a socialist party...
(PASOK) from 1996 to 2004.
Biography
Costas Simitis' family has roots in Ilida (municipality)Ilida (municipality)
Ilida is a municipality in the Elis peripheral unit, West Greece Periphery, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Amaliada. It was named after the ancient region and city Elis.-Municipality:...
. Ηe was born in Piraeus
Piraeus
Piraeus is a city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center , and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf....
to Georgios Simitis, a Professor at the School of Economic and Commercial Sciences, and to his wife Fani (née Christopoulou). He studied Law at the University of Marburg in Germany and economics at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
. He is married to Daphne Arkadiou (b. 1938)and has two daughters, Fiona and Marilena. His brother Spiros Simitis is a prominent jurist
Jurist
A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...
specializing on data privacy
Data privacy
Information privacy, or data privacy is the relationship between collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, and the legal and political issues surrounding them....
in Germany. He currently resides in the Kolonaki district of Athens.
Political activity before 1981
In 1965 he returned to Greece and was one of the founders of the "Alexandros PapanastasiouAlexandros Papanastasiou
Alexandros Papanastasiou was a Greek politician, sociologist and Prime Minister.- Early years :Papanastasiou was the son of Member of Parliament Panagiotis Papanastasiou. He spent part of his childhood in Kalamata and Piraeus...
" political research group . In 1967, after the military coup of 21 April, this group was transformed into Democratic Defense
Democratic Defense
Democratic Defense was one of the many anti-dictatorial struggle groups that fought against the Greek military junta of 1967-1974. It evolved from the "Alexandros Papanastasiou" political research group in 1967, as a response to the regime....
, an organization opposed to the military regime. Simitis escaped abroad after planting bombs in the streets of Athens (in later years he acknowledged his activities on Greek MEGA TV channel) in order to avoid being jailed and became a member of the Panhellenic Liberation Movement
Panhellenic Liberation Movement
The Panhellenic Liberation Movement , also known by its acronym PAK, was one of the many anti-dictatorial movement organisations that campaigned against the 1967-1974 military regime of Greece...
(PAK), led by Andreas Papandreou
Andreas Papandreou
Andreas G. Papandreou ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, a socialist politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics. The son of Georgios Papandreou, Andreas was a Harvard-trained academic...
. He also took up a position as university lecturer in Germany. He returned to Athens in 1974 and was one of the co-founders of PAK's successor, the PASOK
Panhellenic Socialist Movement
The Panhellenic Socialist Movement , known mostly by its acronym PASOK , is one of the two major political parties in Greece. Founded on 3 September 1974 by Andreas Papandreou, in 1981 PASOK became Greece's first social democratic party to win a majority in parliament.The party is a socialist party...
. In 1977 he took up a lecturer's post at the Panteion University
Panteion University
The Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences , usually referred to simply as the Panteion University, is a university located in Athens, Greece...
.
Ministerial offices
Simitis was not a candidate for the Greek Parliament in the 1981 electionsGreek legislative election, 1981
The Greek legislative election held on 18 October 1981 marked a new era in the modern history of Greece.Panhellenic Socialist Movement , led by Andreas Papandreou, faced New Democracy, led by Georgios Rallis. Papandreou achieved a landslide and PASOK formed the first socialistic government in the...
, but he was appointed Minister of Agriculture in the first PASOK government of that year. Following the 1985 elections
Greek legislative election, 1985
Legislative elections were held in the Hellenic Republic on 2 June, 1985. At stake were 300 seats in the Greek parliament, the Voule.The ruling Panhellenic Socialist Movement of Andreas Papandreou, was re-elected, defeating the conservative New Democracy party of Constantine Mitsotakis ....
and his election as a deputy to the Parliament, he became Minister of National Economy; he undertook an unpopular stabilization program, trying to curb inflation and reduce deficits, but resigned his post in 1987 because he felt that his policies were being undermined. In 1993 he took over the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, but in 1995 he again resigned from the ministry and the party's Executive Bureau following a public rebuke he received by Prime Minister Papandreou
Andreas Papandreou
Andreas G. Papandreou ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, a socialist politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics. The son of Georgios Papandreou, Andreas was a Harvard-trained academic...
.
Rise to the offices of Prime Minister and President of PASOK
On 16 January 1996 Papandreou resigned as Prime Minister due to ill health. In a special election held by the party's parliamentary group on 18 January, Simitis was elected in his place, over the candidacies of Akis Tsochatzopoulos, Gerasimos ArsenisGerasimos Arsenis
Gerasimos Arsenis , is a Greek politician who served as a Member of the Hellenic Parliament and a Minister, in several Governments with the Panhellenic Socialist Movement.-Life:...
and Ioannis Charalampopoulos. Papandreou however remained Chairman of the party for the next months until his death on 23 June, just before a party conference would select the party's vice-president; after Papandreou's death, the conference would elect the new Party President. Simitis was elected in PASOK's Fourth Congress on 30 June, defeating Akis Tsochatzopoulos on a platform of support for the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
.
Simitis then led the party in the national elections
Greek legislative election, 1996
Legislative elections were held in the Hellenic Republic on 22 September 1996. At stake were 300 seats in the Greek Parliament.The ruling Panhellenic Socialist Movement of Costas Simitis, was elected, defeating the liberal-conservative New Democracy party of Miltiadis Evert.-Results: rowspan=2...
of 22 September 1996, gaining a mandate in his own right. He also narrowly won the national election of 2000. Although he is widely respected throughout Europe, in Greece Simitis was regarded by some Greeks as a rather dull technocrat, lacking the charisma of Papandreou.
On 7 January 2004, with PASOK's popularity collapsing, Simitis announced that he would resign as party president and would not stand for re-election a Prime Minister in the forthcoming legislative elections
Greek legislative election, 2004
Legislative elections were held in Greece on March 7, 2004. At stake were 300 seats in the Greek Parliament, the Vouli . The New Democracy Party of Kostas Karamanlis won a decisive victory in the elections, ending eleven years of rule by the Panhellenic Socialist Movement .PASOK was led into the...
. At the time he was accused of bowing out to avoid humiliation at the polls. However, by the end of his tenure on 10 March, he would be in office for over 8 consecutive years, the longest continuous term in modern Greek history. In a past interview Simitis had already stated that he would remain prime minister for only 2 legislative periods, since "he wanted to do other things in his life as well". On 8 January he called elections for the position of party president to be held on 8 February. Simitis was succeeded as PASOK leader by then-Minister of Foreign Affairs George Papandreou
George Andreas Papandreou
Georgios A. Papandreou , commonly anglicised to George and shortened to Γιώργος in Greek, is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece following his party's victory in the 2009 legislative election...
, the only candidate in these elections. Despite Papandreou's personal popularity, PASOK lost the March 7 elections
Greek legislative election, 2004
Legislative elections were held in Greece on March 7, 2004. At stake were 300 seats in the Greek Parliament, the Vouli . The New Democracy Party of Kostas Karamanlis won a decisive victory in the elections, ending eleven years of rule by the Panhellenic Socialist Movement .PASOK was led into the...
to the conservative New Democracy
New Democracy (Greece)
New Democracy is the main centre-right political party and one of the two major parties in Greece. It was founded in 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis and formed the first cabinet of the Third Hellenic Republic...
party, whose leader Kostas Karamanlis succeeded Simitis in the office of Prime Minister.
Financial policies
Simitis is largely known in Greece for his political philosophy which is known as Eksynchronismos ("modernization") which focuses on extensive public investment and infrastructureInfrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
works as well as economic and labor reforms. Simitis is credited by his supporters with overcoming chronic problems of the Greek economy and thus achieving the admittance of Greece into the Eurozone
Eurozone
The eurozone , officially called the euro area, is an economic and monetary union of seventeen European Union member states that have adopted the euro as their common currency and sole legal tender...
. During the period of his governance, official data presented inflation as having decreased from 15% to 3%, public deficits diminished from 14% to 3%, GDP increasing at an annual average of 4% and factual labor incomes having increased at a rate of 3% per year. However, the macroeconomic data presented by Simitis' government were called into question by an audit performed by the successor government of New Democracy in 2004. Eurostat
Eurostat
Eurostat is a Directorate-General of the European Commission located in Luxembourg. Its main responsibilities are to provide the European Union with statistical information at European level and to promote the integration of statistical methods across the Member States of the European Union,...
concluded in 2006 that the public deficit of the Greek economy amounted to 6,1% in 2003, more than double the percentage presented by Simitis' government.http://www.naftemporiki.gr/news/static/06/10/23/1257719.htm The results of the audit concluded that the PASOK administration used different accounting methods, especially for calculating the military expenses during its term. The government of New Democracy used the revised data as a means to criticize the previous government for incompetent economic policy and a falsification of an economic indicator, namely the public deficit, which among other criteria was used as a basis on which Greece was accepted into the Eurozone. PASOK contested the accusations and claimed that 2006 Eurostat changes to the system of defense expenditure calculation http://www.hri.org/news/greek/ana/2006/06-03-10.ana.html#16 legitimized the practices of the Simitis government. New Democracy responded that the defense expenditures covered by those changes constituted only a small part of much more substantial expenditures that were fraudulently concealed by the PASOK government. Whether Simitis' government conducted any unconventional handling of Greek fiscal data continues to be a hotly contested issue between the two political parties.
Transparency International
Transparency International is a non-governmental organization that monitors and publicizes corporate and political corruption in international development. It publishes an annual Corruption Perceptions Index, a comparative listing of corruption worldwide...
. However, Greece's position has fallen by 5 places in the same index during the New Democracy government. Four years later Karamanlis himself admitted that he exaggerated and that he never doubted Simitis' honesty http://news.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100070_02/09/2007_239755.
Many large-scale infrastructure projects were carried out or begun during the so-called 'era of Eksychronismos', such as the new "Eleftherios Venizelos" Athens International Airport, the Rio-Antirio bridge
Rio-Antirio bridge
The Rion-Antirion bridge , officially the Charilaos Trikoupis bridge after the statesman who first envisaged it, is the world's longest multi-span cable-stayed bridge...
, the Athens Metro
Athens Metro
The Athens Metro is an underground rapid transit system serving Athens, the capital city of Greece. It was constructed and owned by Attiko Metro S.A. and operated until 2011 by Attiko Metro Etaireia Leitourgias S.A....
, or the Egnatia Odos
Egnatia Odos (modern road)
Egnatia Odos is the Greek part of the European route. It is a motorway in Greece that extends from the western port of Igoumenitsa to the eastern Greek–Turkish border at Kipoi. It runs a total of...
.
Interior issues
In 1996, the appointment of the PASOK-leaning "To VimaTo Vima
To Vima is a Greek daily newspaper first published in 1922 by Dimitris Lambrakis, the father of Christos Lambrakis. It is owned by Lambrakis Press Group, a group which also publishes the newspaper Ta Nea, amongst others in its fold of publications...
" newspaper editor, Stavros Psycharis, as political administrator of Mount Athos
Mount Athos
Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...
was particularly criticised by the opposition http://archive.enet.gr/1996/11/19/on-line/keimena/politiko/pol6.htm. In 2000, Simitis was embroiled in a dispute with the Archbishop of the influential Greek Orthodox Church, Christodoulos
Christodoulos
Christodoulos was Archbishop of Athens and All Greece and as such the primate of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece, from 1998 until his death, in 2008.- Early life and career :...
, when the Greek government sought to remove the "Religion" field from the national ID cards carried by Greek citizens on the grounds that the Hellenic Data Protection Authority (HDPA) recommended so; its decision also included the "Nationality" field, but was not implemented following a subsequent EE directive to the contrary. Christodoulos opposed the decision, claiming that the action pursued deviously the religious de-identification of the Greek nation. Faced by the government's robust but unpopular stance, he organised two massive demonstrations in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
and Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
, alongside a majority of bishops of the Church of Greece. The attitude of Simitis gained faint-hearted support even within his party, but found a surprisingly militant ally in the small Left Coalition party echoing the Eksychronismos opinion makers.The then-opposition leader signed a petition, organized by the Church of Greece
Church of Greece
The Church of Greece , part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, is one of the autocephalous churches which make up the communion of Orthodox Christianity...
, calling for a referendum on the matter and signed, too, by more than three million citizens. However, the inclusion of religious beliefs on ID cards, even on a voluntary basis, as the Church had asked, was subsequently subsided, with its supporters' contribution, to appease extra tensions in the country.
Foreign policy
While PASOK traditionalists disliked his move away from more orthodox norms of Democratic socialismDemocratic socialism
Democratic socialism is a description used by various socialist movements and organizations to emphasize the democratic character of their political orientation...
, and also his relative moderation on issues such as the Cyprus dispute
Cyprus dispute
The Cyprus dispute is the result of the ongoing conflict between the Republic of Cyprus and Turkey, over the Turkish occupied northern part of Cyprus....
and the Macedonia naming dispute
Macedonia naming dispute
A diplomatic dispute over the use of the name Macedonia has been an ongoing issue in the bilateral relations between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia since the latter became independent from former Yugoslavia in 1991...
, his supporters saw both of these as positive elements of the eksynchronismos movement that Simitis was seen as spearheading.
During January–June 2003, Simitis, as Greek Prime Minister, exercised the presidency of the European Council
European Council
The European Council is an institution of the European Union. It comprises the heads of state or government of the EU member states, along with the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council, currently Herman Van Rompuy...
.
Works
Simitis has authored several books and articles on legal and economic issues as well as on politics.Political works
- «Structural Opposition», Athens 1979
- «Politics, Government and Law», Athens 1981
- «Politics of Financial stabilization», N. Garganas, T. Thomopoulos, Costas Simitis, G. Spraos, introduction-preface: Costas Simitis, Athens 1989, Gnosi Publications
- «Populism and Politics», N. Mouzelis, T. Lipovach, M. Spourdalakis, introduction Costas Simitis, Athens 1989, Gnosi Publications
- «Development and modernisation of the Greek Society», Athens 1989, Gnosi Publications
- «Views on the politic strategy of PASOK», Athens, 1990
- «Propositions for another politics», Athens 1992, Gnosi Publications
- «Nationalist Populism or national strategy;», Athens 1992, Gnosi Publications
- «Let's dare united», Athens 1994
- «For a strong society and a strong Greece», Athens 1995, Plethron Publications
- «For a financially strong and socially fair Greece», Athens 2002, Kastanioti Publications
- «For a strong in Europe and in the world Greece», Athens 2002, Kastanioti Publications
- «For a strong, modern and democratic Greece», Athens 2002, Kastanioti Publications
- «Politics for a Creative Greece 1996–2004» ("Πολιτική για μια Δημιουργική Ελλάδα 1996–2004" in Greek), Athens 2005, Polis Publications
- «Objectives, Strategy and Perspectives», Athens 2007, Polis Publications
- «Democracy in Crisis?», Athens 2007, Polis Publications
External links
- His profile in Who is Who at Nato
- Simitis' article on Greece's deficit revision in 2004 by the new government as posted in Financial TimesFinancial TimesThe Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
Website of Costas Simitis