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Costas Simitis
Κώστας Σημίτης
Konstantinos Simitis 2012-01-23.jpg
Simitis in 2012
Prime Minister of Greece
In office
22 January 1996 – 10 March 2004
President Kostis Stephanopoulos
Preceded by Andreas Papandreou
Succeeded by Kostas Karamanlis
President of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement
In office
30 June 1996 – 8 February 2004
Preceded by Andreas Papandreou
Succeeded by George Papandreou
Member of the Hellenic Parliament
In office
2 June 1985 – 7 September 2009
Constituency Piraeus A
Personal details
Born (1936-06-23) 23 June 1936 (age 88)
Piraeus, Greece
Political party Panhellenic Socialist Movement
Other political
affiliations		 PASOK – Movement for Change
Spouse
Daphni Arkadiou
​
(m. 1964)​
Relations Spiros Simitis (brother)
Children Fiona
Marilena
Alma mater University of Marburg
London School of Economics

Konstantinos G. Simitis (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Γ. Σημίτης; born 23 June 1936) is a Greek retired politician who led the 'Modernization' movement of Greece. He succeeded in leadership Andreas Papandreou, the founder of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), and served as Prime Minister of Greece from 1996 to 2004.

Simitis was a founding member of PASOK, and he was appointed Minister of Agriculture in Papandreou’s first government. He stayed there until 1985. He was moved to be Minister of National Economy in 1985 when PASOK's profligacy needed a new financial 'stability' to be imposed in the form of an economic adjustment programme and this marked Simitis' subsequent reputation. With stability achieved and the party’s popularity waning, Andreas distanced himself from Simitis' policies and Simitis resigned. Simitis gained additional ministerial experience in 1989–90 as Education Minister in the Zolotas all-party government (and again later as Industry, Energy, Technology, and Commerce Minister from 1993 to 1995).

In 1996, Simitis won the leadership of PASOK after Papandreou's failing health. However, the leadership transition from Papandreou to Simitis was neither orderly nor 'friendly.' Simitis faced loyalists of the former Prime Minister who had spent much of their energy trying to prevent such a transition from ever taking place. From the outset, the less-than-dominant position Simitis held in his party circumscribed so many of his actions. By the time he had left office in 2004, however, Simitis had a number of significant achievements and reforms in the wider society and economy to proclaim: Greek entry into the Euro currency; the Cypriot accession into the EU; the successful completion of the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics; and the accomplishment of a variety of large-scale infrastructure projects (like the new Eleftherios Venizelos airport, the Athens ring road, Athens Metro, and Rio–Antirrio Bridge). New institutions were also introduced, such as the Greek Ombudsman and a number of regulatory bodies to supervise market liberalization.

Under Simitis' governments, the Greek economy, after two decades of the exuberant rhetoric of his predecessors and financial stagnation, was put in order by reducing inflation from an annual average of 15% to 3%, and budget deficits from more than 10% to 3%. The economy grew with an average annual increase of 4.1% of GDP.

Much later, after the debt crisis erupted in Greece in 2009, the legacy would be re-interpreted by critics as not being enough or misleading. Yet, under Simitis, Greece had seemingly strengthened its capacity for reform and had, indeed, appeared both more 'modern' and 'European.'

Biography

Costas Simitis 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. He currently resides in the Kolonaki district of Athens. His brother Spiros Simitis was a prominent jurist specializing in data privacy in Germany.

Political activity before 1981

In 1965, he returned to Greece and was one of the founders of the "Alexandros Papanastasiou" political research group. In 1967, after the military coup on 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 the 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 a university lecturer in Germany. He returned to Athens in 1974 and was one of the co-founders of PAK's successor, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). In 1977, he took up a lecturer's post at the Panteion University.

Ministerial offices

Simitis was not a candidate for the Greek Parliament in the 1981 elections, 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 from Prime Minister Papandreou.

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 Arsenis and Ioannis Charalampopoulos. Papandreou, however, remained Chairman of the party for the next months until his death on 23 June (also Simitis' 60th birthday), 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. He worked very closely and had a good relationship with his Cabinet Secretary of 8 years, Sokratis Kosmidis. 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 as 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 eight 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 two legislative periods since "he wanted to do other things in his life as well." On 8 January, he called elections for the party president to be held on 8 February. Simitis was succeeded as PASOK leader by the then-Minister of Foreign Affairs George Papandreou, the only candidate in these elections. Despite Papandreou's personal popularity, PASOK lost the 7 March elections to the conservative New Democracy party, whose leader Kostas Karamanlis succeeded Simitis in the office of Prime Minister.

Political activity after 2004

After the 2004 electoral defeat, Simitis remained a Member of the Hellenic Parliament for Piraeus, sitting on the Standing Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs. Re-elected in September 2007, he entered into a conflict with his successor as PASOK leader, George Papandreou, on the political choices of the party. In June 2008, he was excluded from the PASOK parliamentary group after opposing Papandreou's position in favour of a referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon, which he had helped to draft as member of the Amato Group. Though never formally excluded from the party, he kept his distance with the leadership and could not come to terms with Papandreou in time to be a candidate for the 2009 elections, upon which he definitively left his MP seat for Piraeus.

Policies and legacy

Social policies

Various social reforms were carried out under Simitis. EKAS, an income-tested pension supplement that restored the link of minimum pension with 20 daily minimum wages, was introduced, while the pension replacement rate was set as 70% of the last five years of salaries. Seniority pensions were also introduced, along with a contributory pension scheme for farmers. Law 2738/1999 on "collective bargaining in the public administration, permanent status for workers employed under open-ended contracts and other provisions" laid down, for the first time, “the right of public servants to negotiate their terms and conditions of employment, excluding pay and pensions, and to conclude collective agreements.” Law 2874/2000 on 'Employment regulations and other provisions,' in addition to working time arrangements, “ regulates a range of important issues relating to labour relations, such as overtime, redundancies and matters involving leave,” while Law 2839/2000 on 'Regulation of matters regarding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Public Administration and Decentralisation and other provisions' established a gender quota system in the public sector's various governing councils, administrative boards and collective bodies. In 2003, a substantial level of legislative activity relating to employment, workplace health and safety and social security took place.

Financial policies

Simitis is known mainly in Greece for his political philosophy, known as "Eksynchronismos" (modernization), which focused on extensive public investment and infrastructure works as well as economic and labor reforms. His supporters credit Simitis with overcoming the chronic problems of the Greek economy and thus achieving Greece's admittance into the Eurozone. During his governance, official data presented inflation as having decreased from 15% to 3%, public deficits diminished from 14% to 3%, GDP increased at an annual average of 4%, and factual labor incomes increased at 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.

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 and the A2 motorway (Egnatia Odos).

Internal issues

PASOK MPs in the Greek parliament during 2009 budget discussion
Costas Simitis during budget discussion in 2009

In 2000, Simitis was embroiled in a dispute with the Archbishop of the influential Greek Orthodox Church, Christodoulos of Athens, 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 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 with the government's robust but unpopular stance, he organized two massive demonstrations in Athens and Thessaloniki alongside a majority of bishops of the Church of Greece. Simitis's attitude gained faint-hearted support even within his party, but he found a surprisingly militant ally in the Eksychronismos opinion makers. Kostas Karamanlis, the 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 deemed unconstitutional by the Greek courts.

Foreign policy

Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg-34
Costas Simitis with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Romano Prodi.

While PASOK traditionalists disliked his move away from the more traditional/orthodox norms of the Democratic socialism of Andreas Papandreou' policies, 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.

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

See also

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