Andreas Papandreou

Andreas Papandreou
Ανδρέας Παπανδρέου
Papandreou in 1968
Prime Minister of Greece
In office 13 October 1993 – 17 January 1996
President	Konstantinos Karamanlis Kostis Stephanopoulos
Preceded by	Konstantinos Mitsotakis
Succeeded by	Costas Simitis
In office 21 October 1981 – 2 July 1989
President	Konstantinos Karamanlis Christos Sartzetakis
Preceded by	Giorgos Rallis
Succeeded by	Tzannis Tzannetakis
Leader of the Opposition
In office 11 April 1990 – 13 October 1993
Preceded by	Vacant
Succeeded by	Miltiadis Evert
In office 12 October 1989 – 23 November 1989
Preceded by	Konstantinos Mitsotakis
Succeeded by	Vacant
In office 28 November 1977 – 21 October 1981
Preceded by	Giorgos Mavros
Succeeded by	Giorgos Rallis
President of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement
In office 3 September 1974 – 23 June 1996
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Costas Simitis
Member of the Hellenic Parliament
In office 17 November 1974 – 23 June 1996
In office 16 February 1964 – 21 April 1967
Personal details
Born	Andreas Papandreou (1919-02-05)5 February 1919 Chios, Greece
Died	23 June 1996(1996-06-23) (aged 77) Athens, Greece
Citizenship	Greece United States (formerly)
Political party	Panhellenic Socialist Movement
Spouses	Christina Rasia ​ ​ (m. 1941; div. 1951)​ Margaret Chant-Papandreou ​ ​ (m. 1951; div. 1989)​ Dimitra Liani ​ (m. 1989)​
Children	George Sofia Nikos Andrikos Emilia
Parents	Georgios Papandreou (father) Sofia Mineico (mother)
Alma mater	University of Athens Harvard University
Signature
Website	Andreas G. Papandreou Foundation
Military service
Branch/service	United States Navy

Andreas Georgiou Papandreou (Greek: Ανδρέας Γεωργίου Παπανδρέου, pronounced [anˈðreas papanˈðreu]; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, politician, and a dominant figure in Greek politics, known for founding the political party PASOK, which he led from 1974 to 1996. He served three terms as the 3rd and 8th prime minister of Greece. His father, Georgios Papandreou, and his son, George Papandreou, have both also served as prime ministers of Greece.

Papandreou's party win in the 1981 election was a milestone in the political history of Greece, since it was the first time that the elected government had a predominantly socialist political program. The achievements of his first two governments include the official recognition of the leftist and communist resistance groups of the Greek Resistance (EAM/ELAS) against the Axis powers occupation, the establishment of the National Health System and the Supreme Council for Personnel Selection (ASEP), the passage of Law 1264/1982 which secured the right to strike and greatly improved the rights of workers, the constitutional amendment of 1985–1986 which strengthened parliamentarism and reduced the powers of the indirectly-elected president, the conduct of an assertive and independent Greek foreign policy, the expansion in the power of local governments, many progressive reforms in Greek law, and the granting of permission to the refugees from the Greek Civil War of Greek ethnicity to return home to Greece.

During his tenure as the prime minister of Greece from 1981 to 1989, the financial situation of Greece was worsened by dysfunctional and scandal-infested governments, on average annual inflation of the order of 20%, and large budget deficits (over 10% of GDP). The public debt of Greece as a function of gross domestic product (GDP) almost tripled while the Greek economy remained relatively stagnant, with an average annual increase in GDP of 0.8% over 1981-1989 period. By the end of Papandreou's tenure, the Greek economy was in a dire condition as it had diverged from the European average and was furthest from the Euro convergence criteria than the other member states, resulting in a reputation nationally and in European circles as that of `black sheep.'

The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), which he founded and led, was the first non-communist political party in Greek history with a mass-based organization, introducing an unprecedented level of political and social participation in Greek society. In a poll conducted by Kathimerini in 2007, 48% of those polled called Papandreou the "most important Greek prime minister". In the same poll, the first four years of Papandreou's government after Metapolitefsi were voted as the best government Greece ever had.

Early life and career

Papandreou was born on the island of Chios, Greece, the son of Zofia (Sofia) Mineyko (1883–1981) and Greek liberal politician and future prime minister George Papandreou. His maternal grandfather was Polish-Lithuanian-born public figure Zygmunt Mineyko, and his maternal grandmother was Greek. Before university, he attended Athens College, a private school in Greece. He attended the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens from 1937 until 1938 when, during the totalitarian dictatorship led by Ioannis Metaxas, he was arrested for purported Trotskyism. Following representation in court by his father, he was allowed to leave for the US.

In 1943, Papandreou received a PhD degree in economics from Harvard University. Immediately after earning his doctorate, Papandreou joined America's war effort and volunteered to serve in the US Navy, serving as an examiner of models for repairing warships, and as a hospital corpsman at the Bethesda Naval Hospital for war wounded. He returned to Harvard in 1946 and served as a lecturer and associate professor until 1947. He then held professorships at the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, the University of California, Berkeley (where he was chair of the Department of Economics), Stockholm University, and York University in Toronto where he worked alongside long term academic advisor Christos Paraskevopoulos.

Personal life

He was married to Christina Rasia from 1941 to 1951. In 1948, he entered into a relationship with University of Minnesota journalism student Margaret Chant. After Chant obtained a divorce, and after his own divorce from his first wife Christina Rasia, Papandreou and Chant were married in 1951. They had three sons and a daughter. Papandreou also had, with Swedish actress and TV presenter Ragna Nyblom, a daughter out of wedlock, Emilia Nyblom, who was born in 1969 in Sweden.

Papandreou divorced his second wife Margaret Chant-Papandreou in 1989, and married Dimitra Liani who was 37 years his junior. He died in 1996. His will generated much discussion because he left everything to his 41-year-old third wife. He left nothing to his second wife, to whom he was married for 38 years, their four children, or his illegitimate Swedish daughter. The government declared 4 days of national mourning.

Political career

Greek politics before Andreas Papandreou

Greece was recovering from the Axis occupation in World War II and immediate 1944-49 civil war. The latter dominated the political dialogue in the following decades; the underlying question was how power basis swifts from the Right (victors of the civil war) to the Center. Political stability in Greece was balanced with the support of three factions: the King along with the military forces, the Americans, and the political establishment. The political institutions of the restored Kingdom of Greece were fragile due to military (often pro-royal) interventions preventing democratically elected parliaments from executing their campaign promises; the root of these disputes was the constitutional crisis by the disagreement between Eleftherios Venizelos and King Constantine I on the entry of Greece in World War I with the Allies, and resulted in the National Schism with the expulsion of the King and the creation of the short-lived Second Hellenic Republic (1924-1935). Overall, Greece had eight military coups since World War I. The Greek economy was weak, but rapidly growing due to American aid from the Marshall Plan and other sources (in total approximately 3.75 billion US dollars) as Americans feared that the poor economic conditions would make Greece susceptible to Communist rhetoric. Moreover, Americans recognized the strategic significance of Greece's location in the Eastern Mediterranean, invested in having four military bases in Greece, and had close ties with the Greek military. Greece entered NATO in 1952. The politicians often acted between the King and the Americans.

Pre-Junta era (1959-1967)

Andreas Papandreou in 1968

Andreas Papandreou started his career as an economic professor, first in Minneapolis and then in Berkley, and achieved considerable fame in his field. While he was chair of the department at Berkley, he was pressured by his father to return to Greece to groom him as his successor. Andreas Papandreou initially resisted his father's requests. However, he eventually returned to Greece in 1959, where he headed an economic development research program by invitation of Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis. In 1960, he was appointed chairman of the board of directors, general director of the Athens Economic Research Center, and advisor to the Bank of Greece. He also received funding from the Ford and Rockefeller foundations to promote projects aligned to liberal internationalism; initially American officials hoped that Andreas Papandreou would be a stabilizing force in Greek politics. However, Andreas Papandreou started to develop a political ideology, heavily influenced by the American progressive liberalism from his years in the US, to secure the support of non-communist left-leaning Greek voting blocks as he considered the only way to assist his father in becoming Prime Minister. In this ideology, the King, the armed forces, and the Americans are described as having "vested interests" that are not in the best interests of the Greek people.

In the elections of 1963, his father, George Papandreou, head of the Center Union, became prime minister of Greece, and his son became chief economic advisor. In the following year, Andreas Papandreou renounced his American citizenship and was elected to the Greek Parliament in the 1964 Greek legislative election. He immediately became Minister to the Prime Minister (in effect, assistant Prime Minister) and the leader of the left wing of the party. The rapid ascension of Andreas created displeasure among members of the Center Union party, particularly Constantine Mitsotakis. Both Papandreou advocated for the liberalization of Greek society, which was rapidly urbanizing, resulting in large salary increases for police, judges, and teachers. However, seeds of resentment towards both Papandreou from the military grew as they were excluded from salary increases, and Papandreou sought to remove senior officers with anti-democratic tendencies from the Greek military. The latter created friction with the King, who wanted to be in command of the army and not the elected government. Papandreou's government also released all the political prisoners. In foreign policy, Andreas Papandreou criticized the presence of American military and intelligence in Greece by describing Greece as a colony of the United States and publicly taking a neutral stand in Cold War. Papandreou rhetoric intensified after his father's visit as Prime Minister to Washington with President Johnson in July 1964 to discuss the Cyprus dispute, particularly his interview on Le Monde on 4 October 1964 was politically turbulent, resulting in the sudden but temporary resignation of Andreas Papandreou. Andreas' public attacks against the King and the Americans greatly disturbed the political balance. In particular, conservatives feared that Andreas was a secret Communist, leading them to another civil war. The US embassy officials, sensitive to these public attacks during the Cold War, and his father (and as Prime Minister) repeatedly requested Andreas tone down his emotive rhetoric. Despite promises that he would do so, Andreas continued actively campaigning, further deepening divisions and prolonging the political instability in the pre-1967 coup period. Andreas increasingly became the target of ultra-rightists who feared that following any new elections, which the nearly 80-year-old Georgios Papandreou would likely win, his son would be the real focus of power in the party.

In 1965, while the "Aspida" conspiracy within the Hellenic Army (alleged by the political opposition to involving Andreas personally) was being investigated, Georgios Papandreou decided to remove the defense minister and assume the post himself to protect his son from investigations. Constantine II of Greece refused to endorse this move since this would create a conflict of interest, which forced George Papandreou's resignation; the events following this became known as the Apostasia of 1965. For the next twenty-two months, there was no elected government, and hundreds of demonstrations took place, with many being injured and killed in clashes with the police. The King tried to lure members of the Center Union party to his side and form a temporary government. He succeeded in bringing 45 members to his side, who later were called 'apostates,' and the most prominent was Mitsotakis. To end the political deadlock, his father attempted a more moderate approach with the King, but Andreas Papandreou publicly rejected his father's effort and attacked the whole establishment, attracting the support of 41 members of the Center Union in an effort designed to gain the party's leadership. With the politicians unable to sort out their differences, rumors of a military coup intensified, and before the next election took place (scheduled for 28 May 1967) and potentially both Papandreou returned to power, anti-Communist Colonels led the coup d'état of 21 April 1967.

Junta and exile (1967-1974)

When the Regime of the Colonels led by Georgios Papadopoulos seized power in April 1967, Andreas Papandreou was captured and charged with treason. He was reviled not only by the junta but also by his political opponents and many former allies as the man chiefly responsible for the collapse of Greek democracy; even his father disavowed him. Soon after, Gust Avrakotos, a Greek-American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) case officer assigned to Athens, told the Colonels that the U.S. Government wished for Papandreou to be released and allowed to leave the country with his family. Avrakotos violated his orders, however, and unofficially advised the Colonels to "Shoot the motherfucker because he's going to come back to haunt you." Under heavy pressure from American officials and academics, such as John Kenneth Galbraith, a friend of Andreas since their Harvard days, the military regime released Andreas on Christmas day 1967 on condition that he leave the country. Papandreou then moved to Sweden with his wife, four children, and mother, where he accepted a post for one year at Stockholm University. Afterward, he moved to University of Toronto, where he stayed until 1974.

Papandreou in an anti-dictatorial rally, Netherlands, 1968

In exile, Andreas was a political pariah and excluded from political forces to restore democracy in Greece. In the beginning, he actively campaigned, relying on his American network for a US intervention to bring down the junta, but then changed his mind and favored military resistance. Papandreou publicly accused the CIA of being responsible for the 1967 coup and became increasingly critical of the US administration, often stating that Greece was a US "colony" and a Cold War "garrison state". In 1968, Andreas Papandreou formed an anti-dictatorship organization, the Panhellenic Liberation Movement (PAK), which sought to 'violently overthrow' the military regime. Reacting to the creation of PAK, his father added: "Political leaders do not head up conspiratorial organizations" and urged his son to work within the Central Union party. George Papandreou, who was under house arrest since the coup and already at an advanced age, died in 1968; Andreas Papandreou was not allowed to attend his father funeral. In the early 1970s, during the latter phase of the dictatorship in Greece, Andreas Papandreou opposed the process of political normalization attempted by Georgios Papadopoulos and his appointed Prime Minister, Spyros Markezinis. Overall, Papandreou's rhetoric found little response in Greece and whose activities contributed little to the downfall of the junta, which in effect collapsed under the weight of its own manifest incompetence in the debacle of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in July 1974.

Return to Greece, Restoration of democracy (1974-1981)

We are announcing today the inauguration of a new political movement, a movement which we believe represents the desires of and needs of the average Greek: the farmer, the worker, the craftsman, the salaried worker, and our courageous and enlightened youth. The movement belongs to them, and we will call on every exploited Greek to strengthen our ranks, to form cadres and participate in the molding of the movement in order to promote our national independence, popular sovereignty, social liberation, and democracy in all phases of public life.

—Papandreou announcing the creation of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement on 3 September 1974.

Papandreou returned to Greece after the fall of the junta in 1974, during metapolitefsi. The dominant and leading political figure right after the fall of the junta and the restoration of democracy in Greece was Karamanlis, while Papandreou continued to have the stigma of past events. On 6 August 1974, Andreas Papandreou dissolved PAK in Winterthur, Switzerland, without announcing it publicly. He was offered the leadership of his father's old party, which had evolved into Centre Union – New Forces. However, he turned it down by rejecting his father's ideological heritage as a Venizelist liberal, declaring himself a democratic socialist. Instead, he formed a new 'radical' party, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) on 3 September 1974. Most of his former PAK companions, as well as members of other leftist groups such as the Democratic Defense joined the new party. The founding charter of PASOK advocated social liberation, a radical re-orientation of the country's foreign policy, Greek withdrawal from NATO, the closure of the US military bases, and rejection of the option of membership of the European Economic Community (EEC), which was dismissed as a capitalist club. In 1974 elections, PASOK received 13.5% of the vote.

Andreas Papandreou was able to salvage his political career by doubling down on his pre-junta-developed ideology by combining it with nationalist elements, which was assisted by three major events. First, the US interactions with the junta after the coup and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus reinforced in the imagination of the Greek populace the conspiratorial involvement of the US in the Colonels' junta, and thus, Andreas Papandreou depicted himself and his father as victims of larger forces. Second, the oil crisis in 1973 and 1979 deeply affected the Greek economy, and the inability of Karamanlis' governments after the democratic restoration to address the rising economic problems further increased the frustration of the Greek population. Third, Karamanlis, the dominant political figure in bringing democracy back to Greece, became President of Greece in 1980, leaving a power vacuum in the upcoming elections of 1981. The changes (some unrealistic) promised by Andreas resonated with the Greek people, who sought a break from the failed politics of the past. In 1977 elections PASOK received 25.3% of the vote, doubling in size from 1974, and Papandreou became leader of the opposition.

The radical and uncompromising positions (mostly anti-American, anti-NATO, and anti-EEC) of Andreas Papandreou, along with his rising popularity, renewed fears of another military coup in the Right and Greece's allies. After the 1977 elections, Karamanlis toured the European capitals, urging for Greece's quicker entry into EEC as this may reduce the temptation for military intervention if Papandreou implements his promises once in power. Foreign leaders agreed with Karamanlis on a plan for Greece's entry to ECC. Papandreou started to soften his tone, without abandoning his initial positions, by calling for a referendum the entry to EEC after 1977 as he was trying to win over the crucial share of the vote from the centrist Union of the Democratic Centre (EDIK) after its disintegration from its performance in the elections of 1977, and the entry to EEC was becoming positively popular among the Greeks. Papandreou frequently stated in his campaigns prior 1981 elections regarding the entry to EEC:

"PASOK believes that the crucial matter of our accession to the EEC cannot be decided without a referendum."

However, placing the entry to EEC in a referendum was impossible since only the President can do this according to the Greek constitution of 1974 and Karamanlis, as President, would not have permitted this. Legislation to ratify the entry to EEC was passed in the Greek Parliament on 28 June 1979, with PASOK and the Communist party leaving the chamber. Greece entered the EEC as its tenth member in January 1981, and in the eyes of allies, Karamanlis, as President, would act as a restraining factor on radical departures in foreign and domestic affairs. In the elections of October 1981, Papandreou won by a landslide with 48.1% of the vote.

Leading the "Change" (1981-85)

Our basic target is a self-sufficient economic and social development, using all the productive forces in combination with a fairer distribution of the national income and wealth... We seek the gradual reform of the structures of the economy so that the basic economic choices are made by the society as a whole. The strategic sectors of the economy must come under substantial social control without overlooking the positive role of private initiative. The crisis in the capitalist system on a world scale, with ever-increasing unemployment and inflation, intensified international competition, the increase in the degree of concentration and the monopolistic structure of many branches, have made the traditional means of economic policy ineffective.

—Papandreou, in his first appearance in the Greek Parliament as the prime minister on 22 November 1981.

At the 1981 elections, PASOK won a landslide victory over the conservative New Democracy party, and Papandreou became Greece's first socialist prime minister. The party's main slogan was Allagí (change).

In office, Papandreou backtracked from much of his campaign rhetoric and followed a more conventional approach. Greece did not withdraw from NATO, United States troops and military bases were not ordered out of Greece, and Greek membership in the EEC continued, largely because Papandreou proved very capable of securing monetary aid for Greece. In domestic affairs, Papandreou's government immediately carried out a massive programme of wealth redistribution upon coming into office that immediately increased the availability of entitlement aid to the unemployed and lower wage earners. Pensions, together with average wages and the minimum wage, were increased in real terms, and changes were made to labour laws which up until 1984 made it difficult for employers to make workers redundant. The impact of the PASOK Government's social and economic policies was such that it was estimated in 1988 that two-thirds of the decrease in inequality that occurred in Greece between 1974 and 1982 took place between 1981 and 1982.

Andreas Papandreou in Athens European Council - 1983. (1st row L-R) Bettino Craxi, Wilfried Martens, Gaston Thorn, Margaret Thatcher, François Mitterrand, Andreas Papandreou, and Helmut Kohl.

During its time in office, Papandreou's government carried through sweeping reforms of social policy by introducing a welfare state, significantly expanding welfare measures, expanding health care coverage (the "National Health System" was instituted, which made modern medical procedures available in rural areas for the first time,) promoting state-subsidized tourism (social tourism) for lower-income families, index-linking pensions, and funding social establishments for the elderly. Rural areas benefited from improved state services, the rights and income of low paid workers were considerably improved, and refugees from the Civil War living in exile were allowed to return with impunity. He also officially recognized the role of leftist partisan groups in the Greek Resistance during the Axis Occupation. The first law recognizing the Greek Resistance was passed in 1949 excluding partisan groups that fought against the Greek State in the Greek Civil War (A.N. 971) In 1982 his government passed the 1285 law that abolished this exception.

A number of other reforms were carried out in areas such as trade union rights, shop closing and reopening times, social security, education, health and safety, and work councils. A more progressive taxation scheme was introduced and budgetary support for artistic and cultural programmes was increased. In 1982, Greece ratified the ILO Convention on maternal job-protection. According to Act No. 1302/1982, 12 weeks of job-protected maternity leave was provided, which included 6 weeks of post-natal leave. The maternity leave payment represented 66% of earnings. In 1984, maternity leave was extended to 14 weeks, with 7 weeks before and 7 after childbirth. That same year 3 months of unpaid job-protected parental leave for each parent were introduced, which was available until the child was aged 2.5 years. The government also introduced a wage indexation system which helped to close the gap modestly between the highest and lowest paid workers, while the share of GNP devoted to social welfare, social insurance, and health was significantly increased. Other major policy changes included the establishment of parental leave for both parents and child care centres, maternity allowances, community health centres, and the encouragement of women to join agricultural cooperatives as full members, an option which previously had not been open to women.

Social aid became available to deaf and dumb adults as well as for persons with mental disabilities, minimum pensions were indexed to the minimum wage, a social assistance pension for those aged 68 and over was introduced and, according to one study, "All uninsured employed and self-employed individuals are covered by IKA (social insurance fund)." Social security benefits were also adjusted to price increases, while social assistance disability benefits were extended to new categories. Special family allowances were established for certain categories, while wages and pensions became automatically adjusted in line with the consumer price index every 4 months on the basis of economic forecasts. In addition, all women with unmarried children under 21 could retire at 55, early retirement was extended to more occupations, and low-income households received housing allowances. The role of OAED in vocational guidance and training was strengthened, while subsidies for returning Greek migrants were introduced. A national system against unemployment was set up that granted benefits to young people and elderly unemployed persons. In addition, Law 1545/85 extended unemployed benefit duration for certain categories while relaxing entitlement to unemployment benefit. Saturday working was also abolished for certain categories of workers. As part of Papandreou's "Social Contract", new liberalising laws were introduced which decriminalised adultery, abolished (in theory) the dowry system, eased the process for obtaining a divorce, and enhanced the legal status of women. In 1984, for instance, women were guaranteed equal pay for equal work. Papandreou also introduced various reforms in the administration and curriculum of the Greek educational system, allowing students to participate in the election process for their professors and deans in the university, and abolishing tenure. The university system was expanded, with the number of students doubling between 1981 and 1986, while the system was reorganised to provide the departments with more power and permit greater participation in their management. The effect of these reforms was however, limited by poor research facilities, a shortage of qualified teaching staff, a lack of resources, and often inefficient administration.

In a move strongly opposed by the Church of Greece, Papandreou introduced, for the first time in Greece, the process of civil marriage. Prior to the institution of civil marriages in Greece, the only legally recognized marriages were those conducted in the Church of Greece. Couples seeking a civil marriage had to get married outside Greece, generally in Italy. Under PASOK, the Greek State also appropriated real estate properties previously owned by the Church.

A major part of Papandreou's allagi ("change") involved driving out the "old families" (tzákia, literally "hearths", using the traditional Greek expression for the genealogy of families), which dominated Greek politics and economy and belonged to the traditional Greek right.

Papandreou was re-elected in the 1985 Greek legislative election with 45.82% of the vote.

Stabilization & Disillusionment (1985-89)

Davos World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 1988 - Handshake between Prime Ministers Andreas Papandreou and Turgut Özal.

In 1985, Papandreou's government applied for a $1.75 billion loan from the EEC to address the ballooning foreign trade deficit, which had reached 8.7% of GDP. However, the EEC required the implementation of a "stabilisation programme" as a precondition for the loan. The stabilization package, implemented by Costas Simitis as minister of Finance, was based on a traditional incomes policy and included a 15% devaluation of the drachma, a reduction in borrowing, and a tightening of monetary policy, wages were no longer indexed to inflation, some tax exemptions were abolished and incomes returned to pre-1980 levels. In February 1986, Greece signed the Single European Act, which was meant to prepare member states for the creation of a single market by 1992 and required the member states to deregulate and reduce state intervention in economic life. The policies had the intended outcome, and the inflation was reduced from 23.01% in 1986 to 13.5% in 1988, and the Public Sector Borrowing Requirement fell to 13% of GDP in 1987 from about 18% in 1985. However, Papandreou was shaken by a widespread backlash with long-running strikes and demonstrations, including blockades of roads by farmers and a wave of strikes by many major unions in early 1987. With the elections approaching, Papandreou forced Simitis to resign from his ministerial position in 1987, and the reforms were abandoned. Greece then descended to the bottom of economic rankings, falling behind the other member states, including Portugal and Ireland. By the end of the decade, the Greek economy ranked last in terms of convergence with EEC goals, economic competitiveness, dependence on EEC and state subsidies, investment, inflation, and growth. Six months before the 1989 elections, public appointments were bestowed on about 90,000 people, few of whom were either needed or qualified.

During the 1987 Greek-Turkish crisis in the Aegean Sea, Papandreou threatened to sink the Turkish vessel if found in Greek waters.

In the summer of 1988, his premiership became increasingly clouded by numerous scandals. Karamanlis, now retired, publicly described the situation as: "A boundless lunatic asylum," while others refer to the events in 1989 as "dirty 89".

Heart Surgery & Liani

In August 1988, Papandreou (at age 70) underwent major heart surgery in London, but he refused to yield the reins of power. The operation and recovery lasted three months, leaving the Greek state and party without a leader. The opposition mocked his technique as "government by fax."

However, in London, it was revealed that next to him was not his wife but Dimitra Liani, an Olympic Airways steward. Soon after the revelation, Papandreou divorced his wife Margaret Chant and married Liani one month before the elections of June 1989. Liani became an influential 'gatekeeper' for Andreas' favor and was embroiled in a number of appointments in the Prime Minister’s Office. The elevation of Liani proved highly deleterious to the operation of the government and unsettling to the party.

Koskotas scandal

Early in the second administration, press reports on PASOK's corruption multiplied, with notable ones being the "Yugoslav corn scandal," "telephone tapping scandal," and "public utilities scandal." However, Papandreou himself was implicated in the Koskotas scandal, which overshadowed all other PASOK's scandals. George Koskotas was the owner of the Bank of Crete and was accused of having embezzled large sums from the bank’s clients. He fled to the USA, where he was arrested on 11 November 1988 in Massachusetts and was jailed in the US. In 1989, Time magazine published an article describing in detail the allegations. He was extradited to Greece in 1991, where he was tried and sentenced to a 25-year prison term. Koskotas alleged that Andreas Papandreou and other PASOK high functionaries had ordered state corporations to deposit funds (over US$200 million missing) with the Bank of Crete and had taken bribes from the stolen money. Koskotas claimed that on one occasion, he had delivered to Papandreou himself US$600,000 stuffed in a Pampers Diapers box. Andreas Papandreou denied the story, accused the US for manufacturing this scandal to destroy him, and even sued Time magazine. Nonetheless, Koskotas’s accusations gained international attention. Several months after the arrest of Koskotas, six ministers (most notable by Costas Simitis) resigned in protest of the corruption among the most senior members of PASOK, demands for a vote of no confidence against the government. Papandreou’s trial – which he refused to attend, as was his constitutional right as a former prime minister – began in Athens on 11 March 1991. After the Parliament-appointed tribunal of 13 judges of Supreme Special Court had heard more than 100 witnesses and examined 50,000 pages of documents over ten months, Papandreou was acquitted in January 1992 of all charges after a 7–6 vote. During the trial, the deputy of the Prime Minister, Agamemnon Koutsogeorgas, who was also accused and close friend of Papandreou, died from a heart attack after sentencing. Dimitris Tsovolas, former Minster of Finance, was sentenced to two-and-a-half jail years. When Karamanlis was asked about the verdict, he commented, "In democracies, prime ministers do not go to prison. They return home." by both reaffirming the court's decision and acknowledging its positive and negative effects. The trial was characterized as the "trial of trials" and the most critical judicial decision since the Trial of the Six in 1922.

Abuse of power

Beyond the financial scandals, the public was getting worried about the government’s assertions of arbitrary power. Andreas Papandreou was using the national broadcasting organization as a public rela­tions agency. Moreover, his ministers openly threatened unfriendly newspapers. In 1989, it was revealed that the National Information Service, through the state telecommunications organ­isation OTE, had been bugging over 46,000 phones of politicians, journalists, businessmen, and lawyers and Andreas Papandreous used the information obtained for PASOK's purposes. The abuse of power continued when Papandreou changed the electoral law shortly before the June 1989 general elections, a move designed to prevent the absolute majority of a rival political party. The result of this election law change was that it required three elections over nearly a year for the formation of a new stable government.

Lost power (1990-1993)

In the June 1989 elections, PASOK's electoral percentage fell to 38%, owing much to the Koskotas scandal. However, its political rival, New Democracy led by Mitsotakis, with 43%, was unable to form a government because of Papandreou's last moment change of the electoral vote law. The new law required a party to win 50% of the vote to govern alone, and New Democracy had come up just short of that threshold. New Democracy entered a coalition of limited mandate with the Synaspismos (radical left), led by first under Tzannis Tzannetakis (2 July-12 October) and then Ioannis Grivas (12 October-23 November); the participation of Synaspismos party (effectively following communist ideals) in the government marked the end of the militarized politics of the past since there was no reaction from the military. The elections of November 1989 that followed, once the coalition broke down, gave New Democracy 46% of the vote but still produced no government. Since the Synaspismos party led by Charilaos Florakis was reluctant to cooperate with Papandreou before a "catharsis" of the scandals was carried out successfully, all three parties in Parliament entered a National Union government under the octogenarian former banker, Xenophon Zolotas, as a way out of the impasse. Several months later, the declining economy caused the resignation of Zolotas, and new elections were held in April 1990, where Mitsotakis received sufficient (by one seat above the threshold) support to form a government, and Papandreou became the opposition leader.

Constantine Mitsotakis set out to improve relations with the US, which had been damaged by anti-American rhetoric of Papandreou, through a defense cooperation agreement in July 1990, which would regulate the operation of American bases and installations on Greek soil for the next eight years. Greece's airspace and naval support for the allied cause during the First Gulf War aided the positive climate in Greek–American relations and Mitsotakis became the first Greek prime minister to visit Washington since 1964 by Papandreou's father.

After eight years of Papandreou's rule and the instability caused by Papandreou's last-minute change of electoral law, the Greek economy was in dire condition, and Greece had a reputation nationally and in European circles as that of `black sheep.' Specifically, the economy was burdened by debt that had tripled in size, persistently elevated inflation rates (20 percent the year they came to office), chronic primary budget deficits, and huge government expenditures, including public funds expended to keep failed companies afloat. This was also reflected in March 1992, when the EEC Monetary Committee produced a report sharply criticizing the Greek government's economic performance and misuse of EU funds. Six weeks after taking office in April 1990, the Mitsotakis government introduced a programme of austerity by freezing public-sector salaries and pensions, cutting government spending across the board, and raising taxes on various goods, including fuel oil. It also repealed the wage price index that PASOK had introduced in 1982, which kept people's incomes high but also fuelled inflation. Wage indexation was popular with wage earners, resulting in a wave of persistent and vicious strikes. Wages and salaries fell by 13 percent during 1990–3. To attract capital, certain areas, such as banking, were deregulated. Mitsotakis' government also sold or liquidated 44 companies controlled by the "Industrial Reconstruction Organisation," which was created by PASOK and was designed to assist failed firms in recovery.

Mitsotakis' economic policies began to turn the economy around, but the pace at which it was doing so could not keep up with the rising public discontent. Andreas Papandreou was campaigning by promising that a vote for PASOK in April 1993 would result in bringing back the good old days of the eighties and the Greek people voted in October 1993 the return of Papandreou to power.

Return to power (1993-1996)

Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou on official visit with United States President William J. Clinton, Washington, April 1994. Dimitra Liani in the background

In 1994, his government decided to impose an economic embargo on North Macedonia, due to the ongoing naming dispute regarding the name of the then Republic of Macedonia. In 1995, an interim accord was signed between the two countries to temporarily address the matter and the name issue.

However, his fragile health kept him from exercising firm political leadership. He was hospitalized with advanced heart disease and renal failure on 21 November 1995 at Onassio Cardiac Surgery Centre and finally retired from office on 16 January 1996. He died on 23 June 1996, with his funeral procession producing crowds, ranging from "hundreds of thousands" to "millions" to bid farewell to Andreas. In 1999, Papandreou was posthumously awarded the Swedish Order of the Polar Star.

In domestic affairs, Papandreou's last premiership saw increases in minimum pensions and family benefits. Measures were also introduced to improve the implementation of ALMPs. Unemployment benefits, however, were reduced to less than 50% of minimum wage.

Economic policies

The expenditure programme of the Papandreou government during 1981–1990 has been described as excessive by its conservative critics. The excessive expenditures were not accompanied by corresponding revenue increases and this led to increases in budget deficits and the public debt. Many economic indicators worsened during 1981–1990 and the economic policies of his government were condemned as a failure by his critics. Various nationalizations of enterprises and the increase of the public sector was another point of critic by the conservatives.

On the other hand, according to his supporters they were successful, drastically increasing the purchasing power of the vast majority of Greeks, with personal incomes growing by 26% in real terms during the course of the 1980s. Papandreou's increased spending in his early years in power (1981–1985) was necessary in order to heal the deep wounds of the Greek society, a society that was still deeply divided by the brutal memories of the Civil War and the right-wing repression that followed; furthermore, the postwar government philosophy of the Greek conservatives simply saw the state as a tool of repression, with very little money spent on health or education. Furthermore, Papandreou's governments managed to handle the inflation and unemployment rate, maintain the growth of the economy, while according to his supporters the external debt in 1989 was in normal levels (around 65% of GDP).

International politics

Papandreou was praised for conducting an independent and multidimensional foreign policy, and proved to be a master of the diplomatic game, thus increasing the importance of Greece in the international system. He was co-creator in 1982 of, and subsequently an active participant in, a movement promoted by the Parliamentarians for Global Action, the Initiative of the Six, which included, besides the Greek PM, Mexico's president Miguel de la Madrid, Argentina's president Raúl Alfonsín, Sweden's prime minister Olof Palme, Tanzania's president Julius Nyerere and India's prime minister Indira Gandhi. The movement's stated objective was the "promotion of peace and progress for all mankind". After various initiatives, mostly directed at pressuring the United States and the Soviet Union to stop nuclear testing and reduce the level of nuclear arms, it eventually disbanded.

Papandreou's rhetoric was at times antagonistic to the United States. He was the first western prime minister to visit General Wojciech Jaruzelski in Poland. According to the Foreign Affairs magazine Papandreou went on record as saying that since the USSR is not a capitalist country "one cannot label it an imperialist power." According to Papandreou, "the Soviet Union represent[ed] a factor that restrict the expansion of capitalism and its imperialistic aims". This antagonistic stance made him extremely popular, because the previous conservative governments were seen by the Greek people as slavishly loyal to US interests.

Papandreou's government was the first in post-war Greece that redirected the nation's defense policy to suit its own security needs, and not those of the United States. According to historian Marion Sarafis, from 1947 until 1981, the US had more influence in Greece's military policy than the indigenous Greek high command, largely due to the decisive role played by the US in the Greek Civil War.

Papandreou supported the causes of various national liberation movements in the world, and agreed for Greece to host representatives offices of many such organisations. He also supported the cause of Palestinian liberation, met repeatedly with PLO chairman Yasser Arafat and condemned Israeli policies in the occupied territories. He was a supporter of the two-state solution for the conflict.

Papandreou's image and influence in Greek popular culture

Among both his supporters and his opponents, Papandreou was referred to simply by his first name, "Andreas", a unique situation in Greek political history, and a testament to his charisma and popularity. Andreas was also famous for wearing his business suits with turtleneck sweaters (ζιβάγκο in Greek), instead of the traditional white shirt and tie; he thus created a huge fashion, mainly but not exclusively among his political supporters. His first appearance in the Greek Parliament with a black turtleneck instead of shirt and tie caused a massive uproar in the conservative press, who considered him disrespectful of Parliament; however, the whole issue only added to his popularity.

Legacy

Papandreou's grave in the First Cemetery of Athens. On his grave is written Hellas belongs to the Hellenes.

Papandreou exercised a more independent foreign policy elevating Greece's profile among non-aligned nations. He affirmed Greece's independence in setting her own policy agenda, both internally and externally, free from any foreign domination.

His opponents on the left, on the other hand, including the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), accused him of supporting, in practice, the agenda of NATO and the United States.

Andreas Papandreou is widely acknowledged as having shifted political power from the traditional conservative Greek Right, which had dominated Greek politics for decades, to a more populist and centre-left locus. This included the so-called pariahs in politics as of the end of the Greek Civil War, which were given a chance to prove themselves in democratically elected governments. This shift in the Greek political landscape helped heal some of the old civil war wounds; Greece became more pluralistic, and more in line with the political system of other western European countries. Papandreou also systematically pursued inclusionist politics which ended the sociopolitical and economic exclusion of many social classes in the post-civil war era.

It is also acknowledged that Papandreou, along with Karamanlis, played a leading role in establishing democracy in Greece during metapolitefsi. He is described as both prudent and a realist, despite his appearance as a leftist ideologue, and charismatic orator. His choices to remain in the European Union and NATO, both of which he vehemently opposed for many years, proved his pragmatic approach. Even his approach of negotiating the removal of the US bases from Greece was diplomatic, because although it was agreed to remove them, some of the bases remained. His skillful handling of these difficult policies had the effect of providing common policy goals to the political forces of Greece. Complementing this political realism, Andreas' ability to publicly say no to the Americans gave Greeks a sense of national independence and psychological self-worth. Perhaps his most important achievement was the establishment of political equality among Greeks; during his years in power the defeated left-wingers of the Civil War were no longer treated like second-class citizens and a vital part of national memory was reclaimed.

Papandreou's successor in office, Costas Simitis, broke with a number of Papandreou's approaches.

Papandreou's son, George Papandreou, was elected leader of PASOK in February 2004 and prime minister during the October 2009 general elections. A common slogan among PASOK followers in political rallies, invokes Andreas' legacy with the chant "Andrea, zis! Esi mas odigis!" ("Andreas, you are still alive! You're leading us!").

In two separate polls, conducted in 2007 and 2010, Andreas Papandreou was voted as the best prime minister of Greece since the restoration of democracy in 1974.

Theodore Katsanevas

Until their divorce in 2000, Papandreou's daughter Sofia was married to the academic and politician Theodore Katsanevas. In Papandreou's will, he accused Katsanevas of being a "disgrace to the family" (Greek: όνειδος της οικογένειας) and claimed that "his aim was to politically inherit the history of struggle of Georgios Papandreou and Andreas Papandreou".

Works

• The Location and Scope of the Entrepreneurial Function, Harvard University, 1943
• Economics and the social sciences, Economic Journal, 1950
• An experimental test of an Axiom in the Theory of Choice, Econometrica, 1953
• Competition and its regulation, Prentice-Hall, 1954
• A Test of a Stochastic Theory of Choice, Econometrica, 1957
• Economics as a Science, Lippincott, 1958
• Fundamentals of model construction in macro-economics, Center of Economic Research, 1962
• A Strategy for Greek Economic Development, Center of Economic Research, 1962
• Democracy and National Rebirth, Fexis, Athens, 1966
• The Political Element in Economic Development, Almqvist & Wiksell, 1966
• Toward a Totalitarian World?, Norstedts, Stockholm, 1969
• Man's freedom, Columbia University Press, New York, 1970
• Democracy at gunpoint: The Greek Front (I Dimokratia sto apospasma), Doubleday & Co., New York, 1970
• Paternalistic Capitalism, The University of Minnesota Press, 1972
• Economic Development - Rhetoric and Reality, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 1973
• Project Selection for National Plans, Praeger Publishers, New York, 1974
• The Impact Approach to Project Selection, Praeger Publishers, New York, 1974
• The Method of Repercussions in Investment Selection, Praeger Publishers, New York, 1974
• Imperialism and Economic Development, Athens, 1975
• Greece to the Greeks, Athens, 1976
• Transition to Socialism, Athens, 1977
• Mediterranean Socialism, Lerici, Cosenza, 1977
• Externality and Institutions, Oxford University Press, 1994

Decorations and awards

• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (1983)
• Star of People's Friendship (1985)
• Order of the Polar Star (1999)

References

Books

• Clogg, Richard (1987). Political Parties in Greece: the search for legitimacy. North Carolina: Duke University Press. ISBN 0822307944.
• Close, David H. (2014). Greece since 1945: Politics, Economy and Society. London & New York: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781317880011.
• Crampton, R.J. (2014). The Balkans since the second World War. London & New York: Routledge. ISBN 9781317891178.
• Crile, George (2003). Charlie Wilson's War. New York: Grove Press. ISBN 0802141242.
• Draenos, Stan (2012). Andreas Papandreou: The Making of a Greek Democrat and Political Maverick. New York: I. B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1780760803.
• Curtis, Glenn E. (1995). Greece, A Country Study. Maryland: Library of Congress. ISBN 1490436235.
• Duke, Simon (1989). United States military forces and installations in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198291329.
• Featherstone, Kevin; Katsoudas, Dimitrios K. (1987). Political change in Greece: Before and after the colonels. London & New York: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781000992144.
• Featherstone, Kevin; Papadimitriou, Dimitris (2015). Prime Ministers in Greece, The Paradox of Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0198717171.
• Featherstone, Kevin; Sotiropoulos, Dimitri A. (2020). The Oxford Handbook of Modern Greek Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0198825104.
• Garrard, James; Newell, John, eds. (2006). Scandals in past and contemporary politics. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 9780719065514.
• Gunther, Richard; Diamandouros, Nikiforos; Sotiropoulos, Dimitri, eds. (2006). Democracy and the state in the new southern Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191513961.
• Hatzivassiliou, Evanthis (2006). Greece and the Cold War Front Line State, 1952-1967. London & New York: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781134154883.
• Jacobs, Francis (1989). Western European political parties: a comprehensive guide. London: Addison-Wesley Longman Limited. ISBN 978-0582001138.
• Jones, Michael J., ed. (2011). Creative Accounting, Fraud and International Accounting Scandals. West Sussex: Wiley. ISBN 9781119978626.
• Karamouzi, Eirini (2014). Greece, the EEC and the Cold War 1974-1979. London & New York: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781137331335.
• Kofas, Jon V. (2017). Independence from America: global integration and inequality. London & New York: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781351155700.
• Koliopoulos, John S.; Veremis, Thanos M. (2009). Modern Greece A History Since 1821. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 9781444314830.
• Kutlay, Mustafa (2018). The Political Economies of Turkey and Greece: Crisis and Change. London: Springer International Publishing. ISBN 978-3319927886.
• Lagos, Katerina; Othon, Anastasakis, eds. (2021). The Greek Military Dictatorship Revisiting a Troubled Past, 1967-1974. New York & London: Berghahn Books. ISBN 9781800731752.
• Liakos, Antonis; Doumanis, Nicholas (2023). The Edinburgh History of the Greeks, 20th and Early 21st Centuries: Global Perspectives. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1474410847.
• Magone, José (2003). The Politics of Southern Europe Integration Into the European Union. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313051678.
• Miller, James (2009). The United States and the Making of Modern Greece. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-1469622163.
• Mouzelis, Nicos P. (1978). Modern Greece: facets of underdevelopment. London: The Macmillan Press Ltd. ISBN 978-0333226155.
• Pantazopoulos, Andreas (2001). "Gia to lao kai to Ethnos: i stigmi Andrea Papandreou 1965-1989" (in Greek). Athens: Ekdoseis Polis. ISBN 978-9608132320.
• Papandreou, Andreas (1971). Democracy at Gunpoint. New York: Deutsch. ISBN 9780233963013.
• Papas, Takis (1971). Το χαρισματικό κόμμα: ΠΑΣΟΚ, Παπανδρέου, Εξουσία (in Greek). Athens: Patakis. ISBN 9789601632568.
• Pirounakis, Nicholas (1997). The Greek Economy Past, Present and Future. London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0333654224.
• Sterns, Monteagle (2021). The enigma of Andreas Papandreou. Sterling: Potomac Books. ISBN 1640123296.

Journals

• Clogg, Richard (1982). "The Greek elections of 1981". Electoral Studies. 1 (1): 95–99. doi:10.1016/0261-3794(82)90132-9.
• Clogg, Richard (1996). "Andreas Papandreou – A political profile". Mediterranean Politics. 1 (3): 382–387. doi:10.1080/13629399608414596.
• Dobratz, Betty A.; Whitfield, Stefanie (1992). "Does Scandal Influence Voters' Party Preference? The Case of Greece during the Papandreou Era". European Sociological Review. 8 (2): 167–180. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.esr.a036630. JSTOR 522295.
• Featherstone, Kevin (March 2005). "Introduction: 'Modernisation' and the Structural Constraints of Greek Politics". West European Politics. 28 (2): 223–241. doi:10.1080/01402380500058753.
• Karamouzi, Eirini; Chourchoulis, Dionisios (2019). "Troublemaker or peacemaker? Andreas Papandreou, the Euromissile Crisis, and the policy of peace, 1981–86". Cold War History. 19 (1): 39–61. doi:10.1080/14682745.2018.1497014.
• Kariotis, Theodore C. (1997). "Andreas G. Papandreou: the economist" (PDF). Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora. 23 (1): 33–58.
• Klarevas, Louis (2006). "Were the eagle and the phoenix birds of a feather? The United States and the Greek coup of 1967". Diplomatic History. 30 (3): 471–508. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7709.2006.00562.x. JSTOR 24915022.
• Larrabee, F. Stephen (1981). "Dateline Athens: Greece for the Greeks". Foreign Policy. 45: 158–174. JSTOR 20042189.
• Loulis, John C. (1984). "Papandreou's Foreign Policy". Foreign Affairs. 63 (2): 375–391. JSTOR 1148318.
• Mavrogordatos, George (1984). "The Greek Party System: A Case of "Limited but Polarised Pluralism"?". West European Politics. 7 (4): 156–169. doi:10.1080/01402388408424501.
• Mavrogordatos, George (1997). "From traditional clientelism to machine politics: The impact of PASOK populism in Greece". South European Society and Politics. 2 (3): 1–26. doi:10.1080/13608749708539516.
• Melakopides, Constatine (1987). "The logic of Papandreou's foreign policy". International Journal. 42 (3): 559–584. doi:10.1177/002070208704200306. JSTOR 40202471.
• Michas, Takis (2002). "America the despised". The National Interest. 67: 94–102. JSTOR 42897404.
• Nafpliotis, Alexandros (2018). "From radicalism to pragmatism via Europe: PASOK's stance vis-à-vis the EEC, 1977-1981". Southeast European and Black Sea Studies. 18 (4): 509–528. doi:10.1080/14683857.2018.1519686.
• Tsoukalis, Loukas (Spring 1999). "Greece: Like Any Other European Country?". The National Interest. 55: 65–74. JSTOR 42897144.
• Tsarouhas, Dimitris (2005). "Explaining an activist military: Greece until 1975" (PDF). Southeast European Politics. 6 (1): 1–13.

Further reading

• Kariotis, Theodore C., ed. The Greek Socialist Experiment: Papandreou's Greece, 1981-1989. (Pella Publishing Company, 1992).
• Wilsford, David, ed. Political leaders of contemporary Western Europe: a biographical dictionary (Greenwood, 1995) pp. 361–68.
• Ηλίας Χρυσοχοϊδης (Ilias Chrissochoidis), "Η οικονομική πολιτική της Ενωσης Κέντρου", Το ΒΗΜΑ, 10 Απριλίου 2022, σελ. Α38(62), και Οικονομικός Ταχυδρόμος, 17 Απριλίου 2022.

External links

• The Andreas Papandreou Foundation
• Biography from pasok.gr(in Greek)
• Tribute to Andreas Papandreou(in Greek)
• Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections – Archival photographs of Andreas Papandreou from the Toronto Telegram Fonds – Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, York University