Position: Prime Minister of Greece
Incumbent: George Papandreou
Date of Birth: June 16, 1952
Term: October 2009 to October 2013
Key facts:
-- Papandreou, a socialist, is steering Greece through its biggest financial crisis in decades, aiming to shore up its battered public finances and root out corruption as part of a three-year, 110 billion euro bailout by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
-- George Papandreou is the scion of Greece's most prominent political family. His namesake grandfather was prime minister in the 1940s and 1960s. His father, Andreas, founded the ruling socialist PASOK party and was Prime Minister in 1981-1989 and 1993-1996.
-- Born in the United States, Papandreou followed his family into political exile in Sweden, Canada and the United States during Greece's military junta in 1967-1974. He studied sociology at Amherst College and got a master's degree from the London School of Economics. He also studied at the University of Stockholm and Harvard.
-- After returning to Greece, Papandreou was first elected to parliament in 1981 when a landslide win swept the socialists to power. He served in later socialist administrations as education and foreign minister and oversaw a thaw in relations between Greece and its long-time rival Turkey in 1999-2004.
-- Papandreou became PASOK's leader in 2004. He survived two election defeats and fought off an internal party revolt challenging his leadership. In October 2009 he became prime minister when the socialists won elections with a comfortable majority.
-- Despite campaign pledges to boost social spending, Papandreou was forced to adopt an austerity package in exchange for an EU/IMF bailout to save Greece from bankruptcy.
-- An ardent supporter of environmental causes and information technology, Papandreou introduced laptop presentations at cabinet meetings. A fitness fanatic who works out daily, he is the frequent target of satirists for occasionally mishandling the Greek language.
-- Papandreou speaks fluent English, Swedish and Greek. He is married to Ada, an aeronautical engineer. They have a daughter, Margarita-Elena. He also has a son, Andreas, from a previous marriage. (Reporting by Harry Papachristou; Editing by Paul Simao)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
