George Andreas Papandreou (Greek: Γεώργιος Ανδρέας Παπανδρέου, pronounced [ʝeˈorʝios papanˈðreu], shortened to Giorgos (Γιώργος) [ˈʝorɣos] to distinguish him from his grandfather; born 16 June 1952) is an American-born Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2009 to 2011. He is currently serving as an MP for PASOK-Kinima Allagis.
Belonging to a political dynasty of long standing, he served under his father, then-prime minister Andreas Papandreou as Minister for National Education and Religious Affairs (1988–1989 and 1994–1996). He served as Minister for Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Costas Simitis from 1999 to 2004. Papandreou was leader of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) party, which his father founded, from February 2004 until March 2012, and president of the Socialist International from 30 January 2006 to 25 November 2022.
On 6 October 2009, George Papandreou became the 182nd Prime Minister of Greece. He was the third member of the Papandreou family to serve as the country's prime minister, following his father Andreas and his grandfather Georgios Papandreou. He resigned on 11 November 2011 during the Greek government debt crisis to make way for a national unity government.
In March 2012, he resigned as leader of PASOK, and in January 2015, he left the party completely, founding his own political party, the Movement of Democratic Socialists (KIDISO), which was the 8th most voted-for party in the January 2015 elections, but did not manage to enter Parliament. In 2017, KIDISO joined the Democratic Alignment, a political alliance formed by PASOK and other centre-left parties. Democratic Alignment later evolved into Movement for Change, which in the 2019 elections was the third most voted-for party, with Papandreou himself returning to Parliament as an MP representing the region of Achaea.
Papandreou was born 16 June 1952 in Ramsey, Minnesota, United States, where his father, Andreas Papandreou, at that time held a professorship at the University of Minnesota. His mother is the American-born Margaret Papandreou, née Chant. He renounced his US citizenship in 2000.
He received his secondary education at schools in Illinois in the United States, in Sweden, and graduated from King City Secondary School (near Toronto) in Canada in 1970. He attended Amherst College in Massachusetts (where he was a friend and dormitory roommate of future political rival and prime minister of Greece himself, Antonis Samaras), Stockholm University, the London School of Economics and Harvard University. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from Amherst (1975) and a master's degree in sociology from the LSE (1977). He was a researcher on immigration issues at Stockholm University in 1972–73. He was also a fellow of the Foreign Relations Center of Harvard University in 1992–93.
In 2002 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws by Amherst College and in 2006 he was named distinguished professor in the Center for Hellenic Studies by Georgia State College of Arts and Science.
Papandreou's father studied and worked as professor of economics from 1939 to 1959. His paternal grandfather, Georgios Papandreou, was a three-time prime minister of Greece.
The younger George Papandreou came to Greece after the restoration of Greek democracy in 1974. He then became active in the political party his father had founded, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). He joined the Central Committee of PASOK in 1984.
Papandreou was elected to the Greek Parliament in 1981, the year his father became prime minister, as MP for the constituency of Achaea. He became Under Secretary for Cultural Affairs in 1985, Minister of Education and Religious Affairs in 1988, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1993, Minister for Education and Religious Affairs again in 1994, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs again in 1996 and Minister of Foreign Affairs in February 1999. He was also Minister Responsible for Government Coordination for the Bid for 2004 Olympic Games in 1997.
In his second term as Minister of Education, Papandreou was the first politician in Greece to introduce affirmative action, allocating 5% of university posts for the Muslim minority in Thrace. He was also instrumental in initiating the Open University in Greece.
Papandreou received numerous awards and honorary degrees in recognition of his work for human rights. As foreign minister he fostered closer relations with Turkey and Albania. He worked to solve the dispute over Cyprus. Papandreou also worked to resolve tensions regarding the Macedonia naming dispute. Papandreou stated in 1999 that he supported Turkey's application to join the European Union.
In December 2003, European Voice shortlisted him for nomination of the Europeans of the Year award as "Diplomat of the Year", naming him as "The Bridge-Builder" and quoting Le Monde that dubbed him the "architect of Greek-Turkish rapprochement". He is a founding member of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly.
President of PASOK (2004–2012)
In anticipation of the 2004 national elections in Greece, polls indicated that PASOK was very likely to lose as the conservative New Democracy party was heading towards a landslide. In January 2004, the incumbent PM Costas Simitis announced his resignation as leader of PASOK, and passed the leadership to Papandreou by recommending him as the new leader. On 8 February 2004 PASOK introduced for the first time the procedure of open primaries for the election of party leadership. Even if Papandreou had no opponent, this was a move designed to solidify the open primaries, democratize the party, and make a clean break with the tradition of "dynastic politics".
In May 2005, Papandreou was elected vice president of the Socialist International following a proposal by the former president, António Guterres. In January 2006, Papandreou was unanimously elected president of the Socialist International.
In the 2007 general election, PASOK again lost to the incumbent New Democracy party of Kostas Karamanlis and Papandreou's leadership was challenged by Evangelos Venizelos and Kostas Skandalidis. Papandreou, however, retained his party's leadership at a leadership election in November.
In June 2009 and under his leadership, his party won the 2009 European Parliament election in Greece. Four months later, PASOK won the October 2009 general elections with 43.92% of the popular vote to ND's 33.48%, and 160 parliament seats to 91.