Kostas Karamanlis
Kostas Karamanlis | |
---|---|
Κώστας Καραμανλής | |
Prime Minister of Greece | |
In office 10 March 2004 – 6 October 2009 | |
President | Konstantinos Stephanopoulos Karolos Papoulias |
Preceded by | Costas Simitis |
Succeeded by | George Papandreou |
Minister for Culture | |
In office 10 March 2004 – 15 February 2006 | |
Prime Minister | Himself |
Preceded by | Evangelos Venizelos |
Succeeded by | Georgios Voulgarakis |
President of New Democracy | |
In office 21 March 1997 – 30 November 2009 | |
Preceded by | Miltiadis Evert |
Succeeded by | Antonis Samaras |
Leader of the Opposition | |
In office 6 October 2009 – 30 November 2009 | |
President | Karolos Papoulias |
Prime Minister | George Papandreou |
Preceded by | George Papandreou |
Succeeded by | Antonis Samaras |
In office 21 March 1997 – 10 March 2004 | |
President | Konstantinos Stephanopoulos |
Prime Minister | Costas Simitis |
Preceded by | Miltiadis Evert |
Succeeded by | George Papandreou |
Member of the Hellenic Parliament | |
In office 18 June 1989 – 22 April 2023 | |
Constituency | Thessaloniki A |
Personal details | |
Born | Konstantinos Karamanlis 14 September 1956 Greece |
Political party | New Democracy |
Spouse |
Tufts University |
Konstantinos A. Karamanlis (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Αλεξάνδρου Καραμανλής; born 14 September 1956), commonly known as Kostas Karamanlis (Greek: Κώστας Καραμανλής, pronounced [ˈkostas karamanˈlis]), is a Greek retired politician who served as the 10th Prime Minister of Greece from 2004 to 2009. He was also president of the centre-right New Democracy party, founded by his uncle Konstantinos Karamanlis, from 1997 to 2009, and as member of the Hellenic Parliament from 1989 to 2023.
Karamanlis was first elected as a member of the Hellenic Parliament for New Democracy in
Political career
Kostas Karamanlis, a nephew of former Greek President
Karamanlis served in New Democracy's organisational and ideological sectors from 1974 to 1979 and from 1984 to 1989. He is the author of a book, Eleftherios Venizelos and Foreign Relations of Greece, 1928–32, on the Greek politician Eleftherios Venizelos.[2] He has also edited and prefaced various historical publications.
Karamanlis was elected a New Democracy deputy for
He served as one of the Vice Presidents of the European People's Party (EPP) between 1999 and 2006.
Karamanlis was the first Greek Prime Minister to be born after World War II. He married Natasa Pazaïti in 1998; they have two children (a boy and a girl, twins), born on 13 June 2003.
Prime Minister
Aided by the unpopularity of the incumbent PASOK government led by
Another key issue was the
Financial audit of 2004
In March 2004, while PASOK was still in government, Eurostat refused to validate the fiscal data transmitted by the Greek government and asked for a revision, as it had done previously -twice- in 2002, then resulting in a revision which changed the government balance from a surplus to a deficit.
A worse blow came in May 2004, when the European Commission harshly accused Greece of "imprudent" and "sloppy" fiscal policies,
The New Democracy government under Karamanlis, elected on April of that year, decided to conduct a Financial Audit of the Greek economy, before sending
In social policy, the retirement age was raised from 58 to 60 for those with 35 years of insurance, while early retirement went up from 55 to 60 for those who entered the labor market after 1993. Supplementary pensions were also cut. In addition, mothers with under-aged children could retire at 55 instead of 50, while paid maternity leave was extended to 6 months in the private sector. [7]
Rising unemployment and the threat of inflation undermined Karamanlis' promises to kick-start the economy and sparked strikes,[8][9][10][11] especially one in 2006 by rubbish collectors,[12] causing severe disruption in the economy – particularly the one in July 2005 at the height of the tourist season.
In early 2006, it was revealed that the cellular phone of Kostas Karamanlis, as well as those of several other members of the government and officials of the armed forces, had been tapped for several months during and after the 2004 Athens Olympics.[13] The investigation into this matter by the Greek organization for communications privacy was closed with the argument that if this investigation would carry on, the information revealed would be dangerous for the national security of Greece.
The government has undertaken a 210 million euro program to bolster broadband internet connectivity in provincial Greece, which was approved by the European Commission in 2006 with the commendation that it constituted "the most ambitious broadband development programme that any EU member has ever undertaken".
In matters of social policy, Karamanlis's government has followed a largely liberal policy. In the spring of 2006, the Ministry of Education repealed a law continuously in effect from 1936 (including 20 years of socialist rule), which required approval by the local Orthodox Christian Metropolitan for the building of non-Orthodox houses of worship.
At the outset of the year, prime minister Karamanlis announced the initiative of his government for a new amendment to the Constitution. He stated that one of the central issues of this amendment will be the legalisation of private universities in Greece, operating on a non-profit basis. Greece has for years experienced a mass exodus of "educational immigrants" to other countries' Higher Education institutions, where they move to study; this creates a chronic problem for Greece, in terms of loss of capital as well as human resources, since many of those students opt to seek employment in the countries they studied, after getting their degrees (it is characteristic Greece is by far the leading country in the world in terms of students abroad as a percentage of the general population, with 5250 students per million, compared to second Malaysia's 1780 students per million inhabitants). Proponents of non-state owned Universities claim that the State's constitutionally mandated monopoly on Higher Education is responsible for these problems.
Attempted changes in Greek higher education have encountered fierce opposition from the other parties, as well as from the majority of the academic community, both professors and students. An attempt to pass several changes concerning the operation of Greek universities resulted in large-scale demonstrations, bringing together tens of thousands of protesters, and, finally, the closure of most institutions by protesting students in the summer of 2006. The semester's exam period was lost and postponed until the fall, while the government shelved the changes and claimed that no bill would be put to a parliamentary vote before a more extensive dialogue had been held with students. However, without any further dialogue, the legislation passed in 2007.
2007 re-election
In the 2007 general election, Karamanlis was re-elected with a diminished majority, following the 2007 Greek forest fires that ravaged much of western Peloponnese and southern Euboea. He pledged to continue with his reform and privatization programme as well as form a new Cabinet.
On 19 September 2007, he presented a new cabinet.[14]
2009 elections
In the 2009 general election, Karamanlis and New Democracy were voted out of the government. He stepped down on 30 November after elections within the New Democracy party for the election of new party leader.
Criticism
The prime minister came under criticism during the wildfires of 2007.[15] With hundreds of thousands of acres burning and many deaths, the government had faced growing scrutiny for its response to the fires. In the days following the fires and the seeming lack of a substantial fire-fighting response adequate to stop the blazes, the government suggested the process was not natural and the work of arsonists.
A group of Pakistani men has claimed that they were abducted by Greek and British intelligence agents in the wake of the
A number of serious scandals involving Karamanlis' closest ministers and members of his party surfaced during his term, damaging his public image severely. Karamanlis was largely elected in 2004 due to his plea to "clear" public life from corruption.
Another criticism against Karamanlis and his cabinet involved the
After he left office, many in Greece continued to blame the New Democracy governments of Karamanlis for economic difficulties.[16] Financial markets and Greece's EU partners chastised the country for vastly underestimated budget deficits under his watch.[17]
See also
References
- ^ Kostas Karamanlis 11 September 2018
- ISBN 978-9600211443
- ^ Olympics 'may cost Greece dear' 2 June 2004
- ^ Greek debt spirals after Olympics 12 September 2004
- ^ Greek budget mess earns EU rebuke 20 May 2004
- ^ Eurostat takes new decision on military expenditure 3 October 2006
- ^ Ideologues, Partisans, and Loyalists Ministers and Policymaking in Parliamentary Cabinets By Despina Alexiadou, 2016
- ^ Greek economic woes spark strike 17 March 2005
- ^ Greek islands 'cut off' by strike 20 February 2006
- ^ Greece paralysed by strike action 15 March 2006
- ^ Greek unions hold national strike 26 July 2005
- ^ Health fears amid Athens strike 13 April 2006
- ^ Greek boss at phone-tapping probe 9 March 2006
- ^ Greek PM Karamanlis unveils new cabinet with several new faces 19 September. 2007
- ^ A Political Crisis Brews in Greece as Fires Rage 27 August 2007
- ^ Opinion Polls On Measures 11 March 2010
- ^ Castle, Stephen; Saltmarsh, Matthew (29 January 2010). "Europe Weighs Possibility of Debt Default in Greece". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
External links
- Terms of office of Kostas Karamanlis at the Hellenic Parliament (in English)
- Kostas Karamanlis on the Charlie Rose Show, 16 September 2005 (in English)