Konstantinos G Simitis, usually referred to as Costas Simitis or Kostas Simitis, is a Greek retired politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece and was leader of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement from 1996 to 2004.
23 Facts About Costas Simitis
2.
Costas Simitis held various ministerial positions, including Minister of Agriculture, Minister of National Economy, and Minister of Commerce and Industry.
3.
In 1996, Simitis became the Prime Minister of Greece and President of PASOK after Andreas Papandreou's resignation due to ill health.
4.
Costas Simitis was re-elected in 1996 and 2000 but resigned as party president in 2004.
5.
Costas Simitis was involved in several controversies, including the Siemens Greek bribery scandal and the validity of macroeconomic data presented by his government.
6.
Costas Simitis was born in Piraeus to Georgios Simitis, a Professor at the School of Economic and Commercial Sciences, and to his wife Fani.
7.
Costas Simitis studied law at the University of Marburg in Germany and economics at the London School of Economics.
8.
Costas Simitis's brother Spiros Simitis is a prominent jurist specializing on data privacy in Germany.
9.
Costas Simitis escaped abroad after planting bombs in the streets of Athens in order to avoid being jailed and became a member of the Panhellenic Liberation Movement, led by Andreas Papandreou.
10.
Costas Simitis took up a position as university lecturer in Germany.
11.
Costas Simitis returned to Athens in 1974 and was one of the co-founders of PAK's successor, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement.
12.
Costas Simitis was not a candidate for the Greek Parliament in the 1981 elections, but he was appointed Minister of Agriculture in the first PASOK government of that year.
13.
Costas Simitis then led the party in the national elections of 22 September 1996, gaining a mandate in his own right.
14.
Costas Simitis worked very closely and had a good relationship with his Cabinet Secretary of 8 years, Sokratis Kosmidis.
15.
On 7 January 2004, with PASOK's popularity collapsing, Costas Simitis announced that he would resign as party president and would not stand for re-election as Prime Minister in the forthcoming legislative elections.
16.
Costas Simitis was succeeded as PASOK leader by then-Minister of Foreign Affairs George Papandreou, the only candidate in these elections.
17.
Costas Simitis is largely known in Greece for his political philosophy which is known as "Eksynchronismos" which focused on extensive public investment and infrastructure works as well as economic and labor reforms.
18.
Costas Simitis is credited by his supporters with overcoming chronic problems of the Greek economy and thus achieving the admittance of Greece into the Eurozone.
19.
However, the macroeconomic data presented by Costas Simitis' government were called into question by an audit performed by the successor government of New Democracy in 2004.
20.
In 2000, Costas Simitis was embroiled in a dispute with the Archbishop of the influential Greek Orthodox Church, Christodoulos of Athens, when the Greek government sought to remove the "Religion" field from the national ID cards carried by Greek citizens on the grounds that the Hellenic Data Protection Authority recommended so; its decision included the "Nationality" field, but was not implemented following a subsequent EE directive to the contrary.
21.
The attitude of Costas Simitis gained faint-hearted support even within his party, but found a surprisingly militant ally in the Eksychronismos opinion makers.
22.
Costas Simitis rejected New Democracy's bills for accountability and transparency with regards to governmental expenditure and decisions, while New Democracy leader Kostas Karamanlis accused Costas Simitis during a parliamentary plenum of being an "archpriest of cronyism", referencing the index of the NGO Transparency International.
23.
Costas Simitis has authored several books and articles on legal and economic issues as well as on politics.