George A. Papandreou

Member of Parliament and Former Prime Minister of Greece; SIPA Global Fellow and Adjunct Professor, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

George A. Papandreou became prime minister of Greece in October 2009. A lifelong Socialist, his time in office has been dominated by the debt crisis left behind by his conservative predecessor.

In November 2011, two years after he set off the long-running European debt crisis by revealing that his predecessor had covered up a huge budget deficit, Mr. Papandreou agreed to step down as part of a deal that created a unity government in return for support for a debt relief plan negotiated by other European leaders.

He has previously served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Alternate    Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs for Greece.  He graduated from Amherst College and holds an M.Sc. in Sociology and Development from London School of Economics.

Source: The New York Times and www.papandreous.gr, February 2013