George Papacostantinou
George Papacostantinou was born in October 30, 1961 in Athens, Greece. He is a Greek economist and politician and former Minister for the Environment, Energy and Climate Change of Greece and former Minister for Finance.
| Giorgos Papakonstantinou | |
|---|---|
| Minister for the Environment, Energy and Climate Change | |
| In office
June 17, 2011 – May 17, 2012 | |
| Prime-minister | George Papandreou |
| Preceded by | Tina Birbili |
| Minister for Finance | |
| In office
October 7, 2009 – June 17, 2011 | |
| Prime-minister | Karolos Papoulias |
| Preceded by | Yannis Papathanasiou |
| Succeeded by | Evangelos Venizelos |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 30, 1961 (age 52)
Athens, Greece |
| Political party | Panhellenic Socialist Movement |
| Spouse(s) | Jacoline Vinke |
| Alma mater | London School of Economics (B.Sc., PhD)
New York University (M.A.) |
| Profession | Economist |
Contents
Biography[edit]
After his studies, he worked as a senior economist at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris from 1988 to 1998. In 1998, Papakonstantinou returned to Greece and was appointed an adviser to then-Prime Minister Costas Simitis on "information society" issues.
Two years later, he was appointed Special Secretary for the "Information Society" at the Ministry of Economy and Finance (2000-2002). Between 2002 and 2004 he served as a member of the Council of Economic Advisors of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, as a board member of OTE (Hellenic Telecommunication Organization), and as the Greek representative to the European Union's Economic Policy Committee (EPC). In 2003 he coordinated the "Lisbon Strategy" for economic and social reforms during the Greek Presidency of the EU.
Between 2004 and 2007, Papaconstantinou served as economic advisor to George Papandreou, the president of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). He was also a board member of the Institute for Strategic and Development Studies, PASOK's think tank, from 2005 to 2008.
Between 2003 and 2007, Papaconstantinou also taught economics at Department of Management Science and Technology of the Athens University of Economics and Business and advised the European Commission on research and information society issues, participating in various international research projects.
Education[edit]
He graduated from the London School of Economics (LSE) and later obtained a Master of Arts in Economics from New York University and a PhD in Economics from LSE.
Notable Work[edit]
As Finance Minister he negotiated a 110 billion Euro loan agreement for Greece with the EU and the IMF, together with a program of severe fiscal consolidation and structural reforms. During his tenure, he overhauled the budget process, instituting a medium-term fiscal framework with expenditure monitoring and assessment mechanisms, and an independent statistical authority; embarked on tax reform, with legislative and organizational changes to combat tax evasion; implemented a wide-ranging program of structural reforms in product, service and financial markets and also designed a large-scale and wide-ranging privatization strategy. When he left office, the public deficit was more than 6 percentage points of GDP lower than upon his appointment, while Greece had recovered half the competitiveness lost since Eurozone entry and was named the OECD country with the fastest pace of structural reforms.
In the field of environment, he accelerated the closure of uncontrolled landfills; revamped the waste management and recycling systems; helped implement a large number of water management projects co-funded by EU Structural Funds; advanced the completion of land and urban planning and of the national cadastre. In energy, he brought legislation to liberalize the energy market; oversaw a large increase of Greece’s renewable energy capacity and presented a road map for energy policies to 2050; spearheaded ambitious renewable energy projects, such as Project Helios for exporting solar energy; pursued Greek participation in international gas routes; and brought forward the exploration of Greece’s hydrocarbon potential.
Futher Information[edit]
ICD Interview (Berlin, March 2014).
ICD Lecture "From Crisis to Creativity: New Approaches in Greece and the EU" (Berlin, March 2014).
