Euclid Tsakalotos

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Euclid Tsakalotos
Ευκλείδης Τσακαλώτος

MP
File:Euclid Tsakalotos.jpg
Minister of Finance
Assumed office
23 September 2015
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras
Preceded by Yanis Varoufakis
In office
6 July 2015 – 28 August 2015
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras
Preceded by Yanis Varoufakis
Succeeded by George Chouliarakis
Alternate Minister for International Economic Relations
In office
27 January 2015 – 6 July 2015
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras
Member of the Hellenic Parliament
for Athens B
Assumed office
6 May 2012
Personal details
Born 1960 (age 64–65)
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Political party Syriza
Spouse(s) Heather Gibson
Alma mater Queen's College, Oxford
University of Sussex
Mansfield College, Oxford
Signature
Academic career
Institutions University of Kent (1989–1993)
Athens University of Economics and Business (1993–2010)
University of Athens (2010–present)
Field Monetary economics
Managerial economics
National accounts

Euclid Tsakalotos (Greek: Ευκλείδης Τσακαλώτος, officially Ευκλείδης Στεφάνου Τσακαλώτος,[1] transcr. Efklidis Stefanou Tsakalotos, Greek pronunciation: [efˈkliðis steˈfanu t͜sakaˈlotos]; born 1960) is a left-wing Greek economist and politician who is the current Greek Minister of Finance. He has represented Athens B in the Hellenic Parliament since May 2012, and is currently a member of the Central Committee of Syriza.

Tsakalotos was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, but moved to the United Kingdom at a young age. He went to St Paul's School in London before studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics at The Queen's College, Oxford. He went on to complete a master's degree at the Institute of Development Studies, part of the University of Sussex, and returned to Oxford to complete a doctorate in economics under the supervision of Włodzimierz Brus, which he did in 1989.

From 1989 to 1993, Tsakalotos worked at the University of Kent, where he met his partner, Heather D. Gibson. He moved to Greece, and taught at the Athens University of Economics and Business from 1994 to 2010, becoming a professor of economics. Since 2010, he has been a professor of economics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He has written a number of books in both Greek and English, and has been published in a range of different academic journals.

Tsakalotos joined Synaspismos in the early 1990s, and was elected to the Central Committee of Syriza in 2004. He was first elected as a Member of the Hellenic Parliament for Athens B in the May 2012 legislative election, and has been re-elected in every election since. In opposition from 2012 to 2015, he was Syriza's shadow finance minister. When Syriza entered government in January 2015, Tsakalotos was appointed as an Alternate Minister within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In April, he took over as head of Greece's negotiating team on the third bailout package. On 6 July 2015, following Yanis Varoufakis's resignation, Tsakalotos was appointed as Minister of Finance. He was re-appointed in September 2015 following the snap legislative election.

Early life and education

Tsakalotos was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, the son of Stefanos Tsakalotos, a civil engineer who was working in the shipping industry.[2] The family relocated to the United Kingdom in 1965 when the younger Tsakolotos was five years old.[3] He attended St Paul's School, London from 1973 to 1978.[4] Some sources falsely claim that Tsakalotos also attended Eton College.[3][5] In St Paul's School's alumni magazine, Old Pauline News, he praised his former schoolmaster Keith Perry, stating that the teacher did "much to bolster [his] self confidence". Tsakalotos, along with Owen Tudor, also set up the school's Economics and Politics Society (known as Polecon), which was in later years joined by George Osborne.[6]

Tsakalotos went on to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at The Queen's College, Oxford. Whilst at The Queen's College, Tsakalotos was an admirer of both Gerald Cohen and Andrew Glyn, and in his spare time took part in protests against Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government.[6] During his time at Oxford, he reportedly became a supporter of Irish republicanism.[7] He later completed a master's degree (MPhil) at the Institute of Development Studies, part of the University of Sussex, and returned to Oxford in 1989 to do a doctorate (DPhil) in economics under the supervision of Włodzimierz Brus.[8][9]:ix

Academic career

From 1989 to 1990, Tsakalotos worked as a research associate at the University of Kent.[9][10] He taught at the University of Kent from October 1990 to June 1993 and at the Athens University of Economics and Business from October 1994 to September 2010.[8] Since 2010, he has been professor of economics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, more commonly referred to as the University of Athens.[11] Vassilis Alevromitis, a former student, recalled that Tsakalotos's classes were often "packed".[12]

He has written a number of books and articles on Greek and international economic policies, alone and in cooperation with other academics and writers. He has co-authored a number of works with his wife, who has also served as editor for some of the works that he has written alone. A detailed list and further treatment of select works can be found in Works, below.

Tsakalotos has served as a member of the executive committee of the Hellenic Federation of University Teachers' Associations (POSDEP).[8] In the mid-2000s, Tsakalotos led his students in a several months-long protest against proposed reforms to the Greek education system. Thanos Tsouknidas, an accountant that knew Tsakalotos at the time, said: "He was there, involved in the struggle. We were fighting together."[12]

Political career

Early political career

When at the University of Oxford, Tsakalotos joined the student wing of the eurocommunist Communist Party of Greece (Interior). In the early 1990s, shortly after moving to Greece, he joined Synaspismos, which eventually became the largest constituent party of Syriza.[2] Tsakalotos was a prominent member of Synaspismos and he was a member of their Central Political Committee and their Political Secretariat, before the party dissolved in 2013 to form Syriza.[13] Tsakalotos is also currently member of the Central Committee of Syriza,[14] having been elected to it in December 2004.[15] Tsakalotos has also been, in the past, a Syriza candidate for the prefecture of Preveza.[15]

Tsakalotos has been heavily involved in the creation of Syriza's economic policy and has been described as the "brains behind Syriza's economic policy".[4] Tsakalotos is one member of Syriza's "economic quartet", alongside John Milios, Giorgos Stathakis and Yannis Dragasakis.[16] He has been named as one author of the Thessaloniki Programme.[17]

In opposition (2012-2015)

In the May 2012 legislative election, Tsakalotos was elected as a Member of the Hellenic Parliament for Syriza representing Athens B and he was re-elected on 17 June 2012. Following his election in May 2012, Tsakalotos was interviewed by Emma Alberici on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's program Lateline.[19] Whilst in opposition in the Hellenic Parliament from June 2012 to January 2015, Tsakalotos had responsibility for economic affairs in the Shadow Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras.[20]

In September 2013, Tsakalotos's book written with Christos Laskos, Crucible of Resistance, was published in the United Kingdom by Pluto Press. On 26 November 2013, Tsakalotos took part in an Intelligence Squared debate on the subject "Angela Merkel is Destroying Europe". Tsakalotos argued for the motion alongside Mehdi Hasan, whilst Antony Beevor and Christine Ockrent argued against the motion. The debate was chaired by Nik Gowing.[21]

A few days before the 2015 legislative election, Tsakalotos was quizzed, via Skype, by a number of economists, debt campaigners and investment analysts at the London School of Economics. Amongst them were Christopher Pissarides and Panicos O. Demetriades. The meeting was organised by Mary Kaldor and Paul Mason. Tsakalotos said that Greece needed "fiscal space", meaning in practice several billion Euros to spend on growth-promoting measures.[22]

Responding to "why annoy the Europeans over market reform issues when your main problem is debt?", Tsakalotos said: "In any transition period there is a clash of realities. In the 1930s people considered the eventual solutions, at first, to be unrealistic. It’s the same this time round. At first, in the euro crisis there was to be no bailout. Then no buying of government debt. Then no QE. Each of these things have happened. Some things which are now seen as unrealistic will change with the political balance of forces."[18]

First term in government (January - August 2015)

Two days after the legislative election on 25 January 2015, when Alexis Tsipras formed his cabinet, Tsakalotos was appointed to the position of 'Alternate Minister for International Economic Relations' in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. This position made him subordinate to Nikos Kotzias, the Minister for Foreign Affairs.[23]

File:Euclid Tsakalotos Gerry Adams 2015.jpg
Euclid Tsakalotos with Gerry Adams at the Sinn Féin ardfheis in March 2015.

On 7 March, Tsakalotos, representing Syriza, spoke at the 2015 Sinn Féin ardfheis. He was introduced by Lynn Boylan, and said during his speech that both Sinn Féin and Syriza are "part of a great realignment in European politics". The leader of Sinn Féin, Gerry Adams, embraced Tsakalotos on the stage following the speech.[24] He reportedly spent several hours afterwards in talks with senior members of Sinn Féin.[25] The Financial Times later commented on this, saying it was a "moment of bonding" between Syriza and Sinn Féin.[26]

In late April, Tsakalotos was made the coordinator of the Greek group negotiating with lender's representatives over a bailout plan. This move was largely seen as sidelining Yanis Varoufakis, the Minister of Finance, but the markets reacted positively to the move.[27][28]

On 6 July, the day after the Greek bailout referendum, the Minister of Finance, Yanis Varoufakis, resigned. As Varoufakis left the Finance Ministry, he suggested to reporters that Tsakalotos was likely to succeed him.[29] Subsequently, Tsakalotos was chosen to succeed Varoufakis and was sworn in later on 6 July.[4] In the process of this, Tsakalotos relinquished his previous ministerial position of Alternate Minister for International Economic Relations.[30] Tsakalotos was noted for his differences with Varoufakis, for example the Financial Times noted that he "could hardly be more different from his flamboyant predecessor".[31] At a press conference shortly following his appointment, Tsakalotos said: "I cannot hide from you that I am quite nervous. I am not taking on this job at the easiest point in Greek history."[12]

Tsakalotos's first official meeting as Minister of Finance was on 7 July and was an emergency meeting of the Eurogroup. Tsakalotos brought a note with him that reminded him to display "no triumphalism" after the 'No' vote in the Greek bailout referendum.[32] Following the talks, he was described as "Much better than Varoufakis".[33] Tsakalotos attended nine hours of talks as part of a Eurogroup meeting on 11 July. In the "tough, even violent" atmosphere of the talks, Tsakalotos remained notably calm and collected. One participant, following the talks, said: "I don't know if it's because he's tired or just the way he is, but he can really soak up the pressure."[34]

On 16 July, Tsakalotos spoke before the Hellenic Parliament to encourage them to support the terms of the tenth austerity package for Greece. He said in his speech: "I made a decision that will burden me for the rest of my life. I don't know if we did the right thing, however I do know that we felt like we had no other choice but do what we did."[35] Following the debate, there was a cabinet reshuffle on 17 July, but Tsakalotos retained his role as Minister of Finance.[36] The second set of measures in the tenth austerity package were debated on the 23 July, with Tsakalotos beginning the debate, and urging a vote in favour of the measures.[37] On 14 August, Tsakalotos led the debate on the eleventh austerity package, by calling the package "a very tough agreement with many thorns." During the "fiery" debate, he engaged heavily with the acting President of New Democracy, Vangelis Meimarakis.[38] During the debate, Zoi Konstantopoulou, the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, raised so many procedural questions and objections, that Tsakalotos missed the 9:30am vote as he had to catch a flight to Brussels.[39] In Brussels later that day, negotiations were concluded for the Third Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece.[40]

On 20 August, Tsipras announced the resignation of the Syriza-ANEL government, and that a legislative election was scheduled for 20 September.[41] Tsakalotos and the rest of the cabinet remained as lame duck ministers whilst opposition parties attempted to form their own government. However, the opposition parties failed to form a government and Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou was appointed as an interim Prime Minister on 27 August.[42] On 28 August, Thanou-Christophilou's caretaker cabinet was sworn in, with George Chouliarakis being sworn in as the interim Minister of Finance.[43]

Second term in government (September 2015 - present)

Reportedly, Tsakalotos was considering not running in the September 2015 legislative election, as he did not wish to implement the bailout agreement.[44] However, these fears were assuaged by Alexis Tsipras when he said there was no doubt that Tsakalotos would stand in the election.[45] He also claimed that, during the election campaign, without Tsakalotos's involvement, there would have been no bailout package. In recognition of that, Tsakalotos was made to head the list for Syriza in Athens B. In an interview during the campaign, Tsakalotos admitted that the Greek government had suffered "defeat" during negotiations with creditors, implying that some responsibility for this lay with Varoufakis.[46]

Following the re-election of the Syriza-ANEL coalition, Tsakalotos was tipped to resume the role of Minister of Finance,[47] however he was reportedly reluctant to do so.[48] Nevertheless, he was reappointed as Minister of Finance on 23 September, as part of the Second Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras.[49] Chouliarakis, the interim Minister of Finance, was retained in the finance ministry as an Alternate Minister of Finance.[50]

At the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank between 9 and 11 October, Tsakalotos met with a number of people, including US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew[51] and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde.[52] On 8 January 2016, Tsakalotos began a tour of European cities, including Rome, Lisbon, Paris, Helsinki and Berlin prior to a Eurogroup meeting on 14 January.[53]

Political views

Tsakalotos has been described as a "Marxist".[6][54] Tsakalotos has also been described as a "Revolutionary Europeanist", as he supports European Union integration but not its capitalist principles. In one article, he wrote: "[the] European Monetary Union has created a split between [the] core and periphery, and relations between the two are hierarchical and discriminatory."[12]

Tsakalotos is a leading member of the Group of 53, a prominent faction within Syriza. One report names him as the leader of the Group.[55] The Group was founded in mid-2014 and stood ideologically between the Left Platform and Alexis Tsipras's core backers.[56] After the Left Platform split from Syriza to Popular Unity, the Group of 53 became the most left-wing faction within Syriza.[54]

Personal life

Tsakalotos is married to Heather D. Gibson, a Scottish economist currently serving as Director-Advisor to the Bank of Greece and his ofttimes research and writing partner. They met when Tsakalotos was teaching at the University of Kent and they later married in Canterbury. The couple have three children.[6] His father, Greek civil engineer[2] Stefanos Tsakalotos, was working in Rotterdam in the shipping industry at the time of his birth, but moved the family to the United Kingdom when Euclid was five years old.[3]

Through his father, Euclid Tsakalotos is the first cousin twice-removed (great-grandnephew) of Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos, who served as Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff.[2][57] Tsakalotos has been quoted as saying that his great-granduncle fought on the "...other side, the wrong side..." in the Greek Civil War, and worried that his great-grandnephew would become a "...liberal, certainly not anything further to the left."[2]

Together with his wife, Tsakalotos maintains two homes in Kifisia, along with an office in Athens and a vacation home in Preveza, courtesy of a large estate belonging to Tsakalotos's father. In 2013, this proved detrimental to him and his party when his critics began calling him «αριστερός αριστοκράτης» (aristeros aristokratis, "aristocrat of the left"), while newspapers opposed to Syriza seized on his property holdings as a chance to accuse the couple of hypocrisy for enjoying a generous lifestyle in private while criticizing the "ethic of austerity" in public. One opposition newspaper published on the front page criticism reasoning that Tsakalotos's own family wealth came from the same sort of investments in companies as made by financial institutions JP Morgan and BlackRock.[3]

Others in Tsakalotos's own circle are appreciative of his perceived aristocratic mien, with one Syriza member commenting that it helps in negotiations with Greece's European creditors, as he "speaks their language better than they do. At times it's been quite amusing to watch."[2]

Tsakalotos is a fan of PAOK FC, and was given a shirt with Dimitar Berbatov's name on the back by Alexis Tsipras. Supporters of Syriza suggested that Tsakalotos should wear the shirt to the next meeting of the Eurogroup.[58]

Relationships

Yanis Varoufakis

Yanis Varoufakis, Tsakalotos's predecessor as Minister of Finance, described Tsakalotos in 2012 as "a good colleague of mine".[59] In his first interview after leaving the role of Minister of Finance in July 2015, Varoufakis said that Tsakalotos and he were "extremely close". He later said "...I speak to Euclid, yes, and I consider Euclid to be very close to me, and vice-versa, and I don’t envy him at all."[60]

Works

Books

Articles and papers

References: [61]

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See also

References

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External links

Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Finance
2015
Succeeded by
George Chouliarakis
Preceded by Minister of Finance
2015–present
Incumbent

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  1. Hellenic Parliament: MPs' contact details Note: Modern Greek middle names are typically a patronymic in the genitive case; thus, Stefanou from his father's name, Stefanos.
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  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Κατσαντώνη, Χριστίνα, «ΕυκλειδηΣ ΤσακαλωτοΣ: Ο ανθρωποΣ στη "σκια" του Γ.Βαρουφακη», The Times of Change Magazine Τρίτη, 07 Ιουλίου 2015, retrieved 7 July 2015
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  9. 9.0 9.1 Tsakalotos, Euclid, Heather Gibson, ed., Alternative Economic Strategies: The Case of Greece (Aldershot, Avebury Publishers: 1991), ISBN 1856281833
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  11. Euclid Tsakalotos: National & Kapodistrian University of Athens. uoa.academia.edu. Retrieved 6 July 2015
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