Kostas Karamanlis
| Kostas Karamanlis link (Politician) | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Κωνσταντίνος Αλεξάνδρου Καραμανλής 14 September 1956 Athens, Greece |
| Nationality | Greek |
| Alma mater | University of Athens, Deree College,Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy |
| Religion | Greek Orthodoxy |
| Children | Alexandros Aliki |
| Spouse | Natasa Pazaïti |
| Party | New Democracy |
| Relatives | Konstantinos Karamanlis, Kostas Karamanlis |
Attended the 1998 Bilderberg as Greece's Leader of the Opposition | |
Konstantinos A. Karamanlis, commonly known as Kostas Karamanlis, is a Greek politician who was 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.
He attended the 1998 Bilderberg meeting as as Greece's Leader of the Opposition.
Karamanlis was first elected as a member of the Hellenic Parliament for New Democracy in 1989 and became president of the party in 1997. After leading the opposition in the Hellenic Parliament for seven years and his narrow defeat in the 2000 parliamentary election, he was the 181st Prime Minister of Greece for two consecutive terms, winning the 2004 election, with an all-time record number of votes, and again in 2007. However, he asked for mid-term general elections in 2009, as his party enjoyed a narrow parliamentary majority that could not guarantee a stable government needed to handle the Greek financial crisis. Eventually, Karamanlis was defeated and resigned as president of New Democracy after twelve years as the party's leader, being active in politics though as a member of the parliament.
After he left office, many in Greece continued to blame the New Democracy governments of Karamanlis for economic difficulties.[1]
As Prime Minister
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,[2] pointing out that since Greek economic growth had been an annual 4% in 2000–2003, a declining fiscal position could only be the result of government mismanagement, including concerns by the EU regarding the 103% public debt to GDP ratio which Karamanlis inherited from the previous PASOK regime. With this report, the Commission effectively called into question the quality of Greek economic data, as Eurostat had done in March.
The New Democracy government under Karamanlis, elected on April of that year, decided to conduct a Financial Audit of the Greek economy, before sending revised data to Eurostat. The audit concluded that the PASOK administration and prime minister Costas Simitis had falsified Greece's macroeconomic statistics, on the basis of which the European institutions accepted Greece to join the Eurozone. PASOK contested the accusations and claimed that 2006 Eurostat changes to the system of defense expenditure calculation[3] legitimized the practices of the Costas Simitis government. New Democracy responded that the defense expenditures covered by those changes constituted only a small part of much more substantial expenditures that were fraudulently concealed by the previous PASOK government.
Rising unemployment and the threat of inflation undermined Karamanlis' promises to kick-start the economy and sparked strikes,[4][5][6][7] especially one in 2006 by rubbish collectors,[8] causing severe disruption in the economy – particularly the one in July 2005 at the height of the tourist season.
Phone tapping
In early 2006, it was revealed that the cellular phone of Costas 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.[9] 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.
Kidnapping
A group of Pakistani men were abducted by Greek and British intelligence agents in the wake of the 7 July 2005 London bombings. The governments of Greece, Pakistan, and Britain have denied accusations that they were involved in the alleged detention of 28 Pakistanis for several days in Athens and Ioannina after the 7 July bombings in London. The prosecutor assigned to the case said he had no evidence of who committed the abductions. [1] [2] [3] [4]
References
- ↑ http://www.ana.gr/anaweb/user/showplain?maindoc=8496484&maindocimg=8496264&service=100
- ↑ Greek budget mess earns EU rebuke 20 May 2004
- ↑ Eurostat takes new decision on military expenditure 3 October 2006
- ↑ 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
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