George Papandreou, junior
George Papandreou
Giorgos (or George) Andreas Papandreou, Γιώργος Α. Παπανδρέου (born 16 June 1952, is a Greek politician and has been Foreign Minister of Greece since 1999. He was born in St Paul, Minnesota, in the United States, where his father, Andreas Papandreou, then held a university post. He was educated at schools in Toronto Canada, at Amherst College in Massachusetts, at Stockholm University in Sweden, at the London School of Economics and finally at Harvard University. He has degrees in arts, science and economics. Apart from Greek and English he is also fluent in Swedish.
Papandreou's educational career reflected the movements of his father, who had been exiled from Greece for political reasons in 1939 and did not return until 1959. His grandfather, the elder George Papandreou, was twice Prime Minister of Greece. The younger George did not settle in Greece until after the restoration of Greek democracy in 1974. He then became active in his father's party, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). As the son of the party leader he had a rapid rise, joining the Central Committee of PASOK in 1984, but no-one disputed his genuine ability.
Papandreou was elected to the Greek Parliament in 1981, the year his father became Prime Minister. 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 of 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 Coordinator for the Bid for 2004 Olympic Games in 1997.
In the last years of his father's life Papandreou's loyalty was severely strained when his father divorced his mother to marry Dimitra Liani, an Olympic Airways hostess. Papandreou was estranged from his father but their political relationship did not seem to suffer. When Andreas Papandreou died in 1996 George delivered a generous tribute at his funeral, but ensured that Margaret, not Dimitra, was treated as Andreas's widow.
Papandreou has received numerous awards and honorary degrees in recognition of his work for human rights. As Foreign Minister he has abandoned the sometimes inflammatory nationalist rhetoric of his father and fostered closer relations with Turkey, Albania and Bulgaria, all countries with which Greece has traditionally had hostile relations. He has worked without success to solve the dispute over Cyprus, being unwilling to make concessions on Greece's funadmental position that Cyprus must be reunited. He has also worked to repair the damage of the Macedonia crisis of the early 1990s.
Greece is a country where dynastic politics have a long tradition, and it is widely expected that Papandreou will succeed the current Prime Minister, Costas Simitis as leader of PASOK and eventually become Prime Minister himself. He has a son, Andreas, and a daughter, Margarita-Elena, ensuring that the Papandreou dynasty will extend to a fourth generation.
