George Papandreou

George Papandreou (born June 16, 1952, St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.) is an American-born Greek politician who served as the prime minister of Greece (2009–11).

Papandreou was the son of Andreas Papandreou and the grandson of Georgios Papandreou, both of whom served multiple terms as prime minister of Greece. During the dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas, Andreas Papandreou fled Greece for the United States, and his shifting political fortunes were reflected in the varied educational background of his son, who attended schools in the United States, Canada, and Sweden, becoming fluent in English and Swedish as well as Greek. George Papandreou returned to Greece with his father upon the restoration of democracy in 1974 but went abroad to complete his university studies, earning a B.A. in sociology (1975) from Amherst College in Massachusetts and a master’s degree in sociology (1977) from the London School of Economics.

Papandreou joined the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) when his father formed that party in 1974, but his political career did not begin in earnest until he was elected to the parliament, representing the nomós (department) of Achaea, in 1981. He served in a number of ministerial positions over the following years, most frequently holding a foreign affairs portfolio. One of his most visible efforts during this time was his role in Greece’s ultimately successful bid to host the 2004 Summer Olympics. Papandreou also advanced in the ranks of PASOK, and he was handpicked by retiring prime minister Konstantinos Simitis to lead the party in the 2004 general election, though disastrous showings at the polls that year and in 2007 were an inauspicious start to his leadership. However, an economic downturn fueled public dissatisfaction with the administration of New Democracy Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, and Papandreou led PASOK to a landslide victory at the polls on October 4, 2009. He was sworn in as prime minister two days later.

Early in Papandreou’s term, it was revealed that the New Democracy government’s borrowing was much greater than had been believed and the budget deficit was far worse than reported. In an attempt to put the tottering economy back on solid footing, Papandreou introduced austerity measures that proved unpopular with many Greeks, and he ultimately had to appeal to the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for help, which came in the form of two massive loans in March and April 2010.

Even with the EU-IMF rescue, the Greek economy continued to reel. On June 15, 2011, as the EU contemplated delivery of another installment of the bailout, mounting dissatisfaction with the draconian budget cuts and tax increases and with Papandreou’s handling of the crisis led to mass demonstrations at the parliament building that erupted into violence. In response to the protests and to discontent within his own party, Papandreou reshuffled his cabinet (notably appointing a new finance minister) and on June 21 put his new government to a vote of confidence, which it narrowly won. The following month Greek loans were restructured in a manner that was characterized as “selective default” by the ratings agency Fitch, marking the first time that a euro-zone country had defaulted on its sovereign debt. Protests against the Papandreou government again turned violent in October as Greek lawmakers approved additional austerity legislation. After euro-zone leaders agreed on another round of bailout measures, Papandreou called for a referendum on the matter. That move triggered a crisis within the government, as prominent PASOK members called for Papandreou’s resignation and opposition lawmakers demanded early elections. On November 9, 2011, after days of negotiations with opposition leaders over the composition of a successor caretaker government, Papandreou formally resigned.