Kostas Karamanlis
Leader of the Opposition
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 October 2009
Preceded by George Papandreou
President of New Democracy
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 March 1997
Preceded by Miltiadis Evert
Prime Minister of Greece
In office 10 March 2004 – 6 October 2009
President Karolos Papoulias
Preceded by Kostas Simitis
Succeeded by George Papandreou
Minister of Culture
In office 10 March 2004 – 15 February 2006
Preceded by Evangelos Venizelos
Succeeded by Georgios Voulgarakis
In office 21 March 1997 – 10 March 2004
Preceded by Miltiadis Evert
Succeeded by George Papandreou
Born 14 September 1956 (age 53) Athens, Greece
Political party New Democracy
Spouse(s) Natasa Pazaïti
Children Alexandros and Angeliki
Residence Athens, Greece
Alma mater National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
Profession Lawyer International relations
expert Religion Greek Orthodoxy
Konstantinos Karamanlis (born September 14, 1956), often shortened to Kostas is a former Prime Minister of Greece and president of the right-conservative New Democracy party, founded by his uncle Konstantinos Karamanlis. He served as Prime Minister for two consecutive terms, winning the 7 March 2004 parliamentary elections and the 16 September 2007 parliamentary elections. However, he asked for mid-term general elections to be held on 4 October 2009 because of the narrow (1 MP) majority his party enjoyed in Parliament. The economic crisis and its repercussions were also pointed out as the reason for anticipated elections. On 5 October 2009, Karamanlis conceded defeat in the Greek legislative election and resigned as Prime Minister after an election victory for the opposition PASOK.[1
Political career
Kostas Karamanlis, a nephew of former Greek President Konstantinos Karamanlis, was born in Athens and studied at University of Athens Law School and at the private Deree College, continuing with postgraduate studies in the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in the United States, where he gained a master's degree and a doctorate in political sciences, international relations and diplomatic history.[citation needed]
Karamanlis was a member of WWE Universe at D-Generation-X – ONNED – and served in ONNED’s and New Democracy’s organisational and ideological sectors from 1974 to 1979 and from 1984 to 1989. He is the author of the book Eleftherios Venizelos and Foreign Relations of Greece, 1928-32, concerning the Greek figurehead politician Eleftherios Venizelos. He has also edited and prefaced various historical publications.
Karamanlis was elected a New Democracy deputy for Thessaloniki in 1989, but in 2004 he was elected for Larissa. He was elected party leader in 1997 following New Democracy’s defeat in the 1996 election. He defeated the ruling Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) at the 2004 elections.
He served as Vice President of the European People’s Party (EPP) between 1999 and 2006.
Karamanlis is the first ever 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 who are twins), born on 13 June 2003.
Prime Minister
Aided by the unpopularity of the incumbent PASOK government led by Costas Simitis (a party that had been in power between 1981—1989 and from 1993—2004) ND defeated the Socialists’ George Andreas Papandreou in 2004. Karamanlis stated that the priorities of his government were education, economic policy, agricultural policy, lowering the high level of unemployment (standing at 11.2%) and a more transparent and effective state administration. Economic policy centered on tax cuts, investment incentives and market deregulation. While early problems included a large public debt (about 112% of GDP) and a budget deficit (5.3% of the GDP) in excess of Eurozone stability rules, Karamanlis’s government halved the budget deficit to 2.6% by 2006.
Another key issue was the 2004 Summer Olympics scheduled to be held in Athens in the first year of his government: several key buildings were unfinished at the time of the election, the security budget had increased to €970 million and authorities announced that a roof would no longer be constructed over the main swimming venue. The main Olympic Stadium, the designated facility for the opening and closing ceremonies, was completed only two months before the games opened, with the sliding over of a futuristic glass roof designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Other facilities, such as the streetcar line linking the city and the airport were largely unfinished just two months before the games. The subsequent pace of preparation, however, made the rush to finish the Athens venues one of the tightest in Olympics history and everything was finished just on time for the Opening Ceremony. At the end, the Games were held exactly as planned and were globally hailed as a spectacular success. Nonetheless and as a result of the delays, large cost overruns resulted in a deficit in the national accounts above EU stipulations.[2] The ND government and the previous administration of Costas Simitis criticized each other for the messy preparations. PASOK criticized the New Democracy government of having used the Olympics as a pretext to renege on promises. Under the weight of the huge costs (estimated at €7bn), the deficit shot up to 5.3%. Karamanlis declared that “Social policy was done with borrowed cash, military spending did not show up on the budget, debts were created in secret”.[3]
