Costas Simitis

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Constantine G. Simitis (

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.'^[1]

Biography

Costas Simitis was born in

Political activity before 1981

In 1965, he returned to Greece and was one of the founders of the "

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

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,^[4][5] 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.^[6] 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.”^[7] 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.^[8] In 2003, a substantial level of legislative activity relating to employment, workplace health and safety and social security took place.^[9]

Financial policies

Simitis is known mainly in Greece for his political philosophy, known as "Eksynchronismos" (modernization), which focused on extensive

In 2000, Simitis was embroiled in a dispute with the Archbishop of the influential

, 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

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2008)

While PASOK traditionalists disliked his move away from the more traditional/orthodox norms of the

In 1996, the appointment of the PASOK-leaning To Vima newspaper editor, Stavros Psycharis, as political administrator of Mount Athos was particularly criticised by the opposition.^[10]

Siemens bribery scandal

A significant issue during Simitis' tenure concerned corruption, which became endemic in Greek public life (including the Siemens Greek bribery scandal, incidents like Akis Tsochatzopoulos, who later was imprisoned for criminal actions for the purchase of the German type 214 submarines) etc.

Siemens CEO Michalis Christoforakos testified that during his trial in Germany, he bribed (2%) both the two major political parties, ND and PASOK (through Geitonas and Tsoukatos, partner of Kostas Simitis). According to Tsoukatos, the money was put in PASOK's cash desk.^[11] As of 2018, Simitis was under prosecutor investigation regarding the Siemens Greek bribery scandal, but was later exonerated.^[12]

Validity of statistical data

New Democracy revised the size of the defense expenditures for the years 1997-2003 by changing the regulation for the cost accounting of the defense expenditures from the date of delivery of war material (delivery basis), which was at the time followed by half the countries of the EU, to the payment date of the advance payments (cash basis). Eurostat accepted the change, because of the lack of reliable data for the deliveries of war material.^[13] By the revision of the 1999 defense expenditures, the deficit of 1999, the year of the Greek economy's evaluation, amounted to 3.1%. Since 2005, Eurostat changed its rules and records the defense expenditures according to the delivery date for all the countries of the EU, including Greece. Eurostat requested that the member countries to correct their data retroactively. Greece did not proceed to the rectification.^{[citation needed]}

The deficit of 1999, year of the Greek economy's evaluation, is still presented to be 3.1% of the Gross National product (GNP), greater than the Maastricht criterion for a deficit lower than 3% of the GNP. Subsequent revisions of the data show also other countries exceeding the fiscal deficit (government deficit) of 3% during the evaluation period. Thus, in 1997, which is the year of the evaluation of the first countries that became members of the Euro zone, the deficit of France was 3.3%, of Spain 3.4% and of Portugal 3.4%.^[14][15]

Other

Other points of criticism included the

Simitis rejected New Democracy's bills for accountability and transparency with regards to governmental expenditure and decisions,^[16] while 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 five places^{[citation needed]} in the same index during the New Democracy government (2004-2009). Four years later Karamanlis himself admitted that he exaggerated and that he never doubted Simitis' personal integrity.^[17]

Works

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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

• Politics of Greece
• List of prime ministers of Greece

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Konstantinos Simitis.

• 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 Times
• (in Greek) Website of Costas Simitis