Biography

Costas Simitis was born in Piraeus on June 23, 1936.

He studied law in Germany and economics in Great Britain where he met his wife, Daphne Simitis (born Arkadiou), with whom he has two daughters, Fiona and Marilena.

He started his academic career as a lecturer of Law at the University of Marburg in Germany in 1959. After fleeing Greece during the military coup of 1967, he taught at the University of Konstanz from 1971 to 1975 and then at the University of Giessen, teaching Civil Law. In 1977, he was elected tenured professor at the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens.

In 1965, he was one of the founders of the Alexandros Papanastasiou Political Research Group. The group aimed at the systematic study of the most important problems of the Greek economy and society and the undertaking of initiatives to address them. In 1967, the group evolved into the anti-dictatorship organization Democratic Defense.

Simitis participated actively in the struggle against the military regime of 1967-1974. After the arrest of Sakis Karagiorgas, an economic professor in Panteion University, fellow member of the organization and close associate, he fled abroad. He was then handed a prison sentence in absentia. In retaliation, the regime arrested his wife Daphne, and held her in solitary confinement for two months.

Back in Germany, he became a member of the Panhellenic Liberation Movement (PAK) in 1970 and in 1974 a founding member of PAK’s successor, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), contributing decisively to the formulation of the “Declaration of September 3.” He participated in the first Executive Office and in the first Central Committee of PASOK.

In a Greek referendum over whether to retain the monarchy (8 December 1974), he was appointed as the party’s rapporteur in favour of the “No” vote (against the monarchy) to a special televised debate.

In the 1977 national elections, he co-authored PASOK’s election program. With his article “Structural opposition” and by adding the slogan “Yes to a Europe of the peoples,” to the slogan “No to a Europe of monopolies,” he was targeted by leading members of the party and resigned from the Executive Office on June 13, 1979.

In the 1981 elections, despite initial commitments by PASOK leader Andreas Papandreou, he was not included in the PASOK ticket.

Immediately after the party’s electoral victory in October 1981, he took over the Ministry of Agriculture in the first government of Andreas Papandreou. He served as Minister of Agriculture until 1985, during which term he ensured the successful integration of Greek agriculture into the European Economic Community’s (EEC) Common Agricultural Policy, as well as the increase of Community aid.

He returned to the Executive Office in 1984. In the 1985 national elections, he run for a seat in parliament for the first time. After being elected as the first member of parliament for Piraeus, he served a long parliamentary term which ended with his retirement from active politics in 2007.

In 1985 he took over the Ministry of National Economy, where he remained until November 1987, implementing the first economic stabilization program, resulting in a drastic reduction in macroeconomic imbalances. In November 1987 he disagreed with the easing of economic recovery measures and resigned.

At the meeting of PASOK’s Central Committee in Anavyssos, after the electoral defeat of 1989, Simitis was re-elected to the Executive Office “for the turnaround of PASOK.”

During the interim government of Professor Xenophon Zolotas (November 1989-February 1990) Simitis served as Minister of National Education and Religions.

In 1990, at the meeting of the party’s Central Committee at the hotel Penteliko, Andreas Papandreou imposed Akis Tsochatzopoulos as the party’s new Secretary, against the candidacy of Paraskevas Avgerinos, who was supported by Simitis and prominent PASOK lawmakers Melina Mercouri and Theodoros Pangalos.

From 1993 to 1995, he took over the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, as well as that of Trade, during which he set the stage for a long-term political development of the Greek economy. He resigned on September 11, 1995, after Papandreou handled issues of his competence without prior consultation.

Ahead of the 3rd PASOK Congress of April 1994, Simitis published a series of articles (“Towards a Knowledge-Integrating Economy,” “Information Society: Information is an Element of Economic Development,” etc.), gradually shaping his positions on the modernisation of the economy.

In November 1994, PASOK lawmaker and minister Vaso Papandreou convened the “Dinner of the Four” inviting Simitis, Paraskevas Avgerinos and Theodoros Pangalos to discuss “a way out of the declining course of PASOK and the government.”

At the end of November 1995, Papandreou was hospitalized in the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Centre where his declining health was deemed non-reversible. Following Papandreou’s letter of resignation, PASOK’s parliamentary group elected Simitis as the new Prime Minister on January 18, 1996.

At the 4th PASOK conference that followed the death of Papandreou, Simitis was elected President of PASOK with 53.77 percent against 46.23 percent for Akis Tsochatzopoulos.

At the 5th PASOK Congress in March 1999, he was re-elected President of PASOK. In the national elections of April 9, 2000, he was re-elected Prime Minister, with an increase in the percentage of PASOK, and in the 6th PASOK Congress that followed in October 2001, he was elected party President for the third time.

On January 7, 2004, aiming to ensure a smooth political succession, he announced his resignation from the party presidency, but remained Prime Minister until the end of his second term and the parliamentary elections of March 7, 2004, completing eight consecutive years as Prime Minister.

He has been elected Member of Parliament for the First Constituency of Piraeus continuously since 1985.

Following the March 2004 parliamentary elections, he participated in international fora and organizations such as the Action Committee on European Democracy (ACED), the Clinton Global Initiative and the Interaction Council.

During the period that followed his departure from the Ministry of National Economy in 1987, Simitis identified the main elements of his overall political thinking with the publication of articles and studies. With the establishment of the Society for the Modernization of Society (OPEC), he created a platform for discussing the issues of modernization.

During his tenure as Prime Minister, he sought to modernize Greek society, focusing on the stabilization and growth of the economy, as well as on strengthening Greece’s position in Europe and its international environment.

With this policy, Greece joined the Economic Monetary Union in 2000, achieving a strategically important national goal. Following the replacement of the former national currency, the drachma, by the single European currency (Euro), the country accelerated policies for real and social convergence.

Through one of the largest development programs in the history of the country, Greece carried out a balanced regional development program with the completion of hundreds of small and large infrastructure projects nationwide.

Among them are the Athens International Airport (Eleftherios Venizelos), the Attiki Odos, the Rio Antirrio Bridge, the Athens Metro, the Egnatia Odos. Of similar importance was the modernization program of the welfare state, which was implemented with an emphasis on the development of health and welfare infrastructure, especially with the construction of dozens of hospitals across the country.

On the path to modernization, an important milestone was the stabilization of the economy, the continuous acceleration of the economy’s growth rate, the creation of independent administrative authorities, the modernization of public administration, the Kapodistrias Program (for the reorganisation of the country’s administrative divisions) and the decentralization of power, the dismantling of the terrorist organization November 17, the new regulations for identity cards, the new museums that were built, the unification of the Archaeological sites in central Athens and the beginning of the work for the new Acropolis Museum. At the same time, the country prepared for the solid organization of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

During his tenure as Prime Minister, Greece bolstered its position in Europe’s decision-making centers, especially in the European Union and NATO. Furthermore, Cyprus’ EU accession process was planned and completed. The Charter for the Western Balkans was formed and adopted, integrating the Balkans into the European environment. Greek-Turkish relations entered a period of negotiations for the first time with the prospect of resolving the issue of the continental shelf in accordance with the decisions of the Helsinki Summit.

As Prime Minister, he chaired the European Council during the first half of 2003. During the Greek Presidency, the EU accession of ten new countries – including Cyprus – was marked on April 14, 2003, at the Attalos Gallery in Athens.

At the same time, the procedures for the drafting of the European Constitution were completed. Lisbon’s strategy for growth and employment was promoted and a united stance among member-states was made possible in the crisis caused by the war in Iraq.

After the end of his term as Prime Minister and as a member of the Greek Parliament, he continues to intervene in public life with speeches and articles, serving his constant goal of a strong Greece, a strong society, modernization and a European orientation.

Costas Simitis speaks English, French and German. His work as an author and public speaker includes texts and books focusing on political and scientific issues.