Andreas Papandreou

Andreas Georgiou Papandreou (Template:Langx, Template:IPA; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek academic and economist who founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). He was prime minister of Greece from 1981 to 1989 and again from 1993 to 1996.

Papandreou was the son of Georgios Papandreou. In 1938, Papandreou left Greece for the United States to escape the 4th of August Regime and became a prominent academic. He returned to Greece in 1959 after years of resisting his father's entreaties to prepare him as successor.Template:Sfn Papandreou's rapid ascension, together with his uncompromising radical rhetoric, amplified Greece's post-Civil War political instability, which created the conditions for a group of colonels to stage a coup d'etat and rule Greece for seven years.Template:Sfn Papandreou was imprisoned, then exiled during the ensuing Greek Junta, with many, including his father, blaming him for the fall of democracy.Template:Cref2Template:Sfn In exile, Papandreou developed and spread an anti-American, conspiratorialTemplate:Cref2 narrative of past events, in which he was a victim of larger forces.Template:Sfn

On his return in 1974, Papandreou created PASOK, the first organised Greek socialist party. Papandreou's populist rhetoric resonated with the Greek people who sought a break from the politics of the past, along with the mounting pressure from the 1970s energy crisis.Template:Sfn PASOK won the 1981 elections and Papandreou implemented a transformative social agenda, expanding access to education and healthcare, reinforcing workers' rights, and passing a new family law that elevated the position of women in society and the economy. He secured official recognition of the communist resistance groups in the Greek Resistance, making it easier for communist refugees from the Civil War to return.Template:Sfn His governance was tarnished by numerous corruption scandals, a soft stance on terrorism, democratic backsliding,Template:Sfn a public divorce and subsequent marriage to an air stewardesses half his age, controversial foreign policy decisions, and a constitutional crisis which he had instigated. Under Papandreou, the Greek economy diverged from the European average because of large-scale patronage, misuse of European Union funds, and excessive foreign borrowing, which resulted in Greece earning the reputation of Europe's "black sheep."Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Papandreou resigned from the premiership in January 1996 due to ill health and died in June of that year. He transformed Greece's post-junta liberal democracy into a populist democracy that continues to be popular after his death.Template:Cref2Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn His eldest son, George Papandreou, became the leader of PASOK in February 2004 and served as prime minister from 2009 to 2011.

Personal life and family

Papandreou was born on 5 February 1919 on the Greek island of Chios,Template:Sfn the son of Zofia (Sofia) Mineyko (1883–1981) and Greek liberal politician and future prime minister George Papandreou. His maternal grandfather was Polish-Lithuanian-born public figure Zygmunt Mineyko, and his maternal grandmother was Greek. He attended Athens College, a private school in Greece, then the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens from 1937 until 1938. During the dictatorship led by Ioannis Metaxas, he was arrested for purported Trotskyism.Template:Sfn Following representation in court by his father, Papandreou gained an exit visa through family connections, and went to New York. From there he asked for political asylum based on the imprisonment by the Metaxas regime.Template:Sfn

Papandreou married Christina Rasia in 1941. In 1948, he entered into a relationship with Margaret Chant a journalism student at University of Minnesota where he was a professor.Template:Sfn He obtained a divorce from his spouse in 1951 and married Chant later that year. They had three sons and a daughter. Papandreou also had, with Swedish actress and TV presenter Template:Ill, a daughter out of wedlock, Emilia Nyblom, who was born in 1969 in Sweden.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Papandreou divorced Chant in 1989 and married Dimitra Liani, who was 37 years his junior.Template:Sfn

Papandreou died on 23 June 1996.Template:Sfn The government declared four days of national mourning,Template:Sfn and at his funeral procession produced crowds of "hundreds of thousands."Template:Sfn His will shocked the public because he left everything to his 41-year-old third wife and left nothing to his family by the second wife, their four children, or his illegitimate Swedish daughter.Template:Sfn

Academic career

In 1943, Papandreou received a PhD degree in economics from Harvard University.Template:Sfn Afterwards, he served in the U.S. Navy and qualified as a hospital corpsman at the Bethesda Naval Hospital.Template:Sfn Papandreou's skills in maths were recognized by an American admiral, who placed him in a statistical control unit planning the Okinawa invasion.Template:Sfn He returned to Harvard in 1946 as a student advisor until 1947, when he received an assistant professorship at the University of Minnesota.Template:Sfn Papandreou became a visiting professor at Northwestern University for 1950–1951.Template:Sfn In 1956, he accepted a tenured teaching position at the University of California, Berkeley, where he later became the Department of Economics chair.Template:Sfn While in exile, Papandreou worked at Stockholm University for a year and then at York University in Toronto until 1974.Template:Sfn

Political career

Pre-Junta era (1959–1967)

Entry into politics

While he was chair of the department at Berkeley, Papandreou was pressured by his father to return to Greece to prepare him as his successor.Template:Sfn He returned to Greece in 1959 and headed an economic development research program by invitation of Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis.Template:Sfn In 1960, he began leading the Athens Economic Research Center and advising the Bank of Greece.Template:Sfn

Papandreou developed an ideology shaped by the progressive liberalism from his years in the U.S.,Template:Sfn aiming to gain support from the non-communist, left-leaning electorate. He viewed this as the only viable path to help his father ascend to prime minister. His vision called for social and economic modernization, pursued through the creation of a mass-based political party.Template:Sfn American officials hoped that Papandreou would be a stabilizing force in Greek politics.Template:Sfn He received funding from the Ford Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation to promote projects aligned to liberal internationalism.Template:Sfn He later moved away from progressive liberalism and adopted a populist rhetoric, in which the king, the armed forces, and the Americans are described as having "vested interests" that are not in the best interests of Greece.Template:Sfn

Center Union rise and conflicts

The 1963 Greek legislative election brought his father, head of the Center Union, to the prime minister. Papandreou became chief economic advisor, renounced his American citizenship, and was elected to the Greek Parliament in the 1964 Greek legislative election.Template:Sfn He then became the assistant to the Prime MinisterTemplate:Sfn and leader of the party's left wing.Template:Sfn Papandreou's rapid ascension, orchestrated by his father, created displeasure among Center Union party members.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The discontent of Center Union members increased as Papandreou's influence grew and his father started to ignore his own Cabinet on critical political decisions.Template:Sfn

Papandreous advocated for the liberalization of the rapidly urbanizing Greek society, resulting in large salary increases for police, judges, and teachers. Resentment towards the Papandreous grew among the military as they were excluded from salary increases.Template:Sfn The Papandreous made a faint attempt to gain military control, which alarmed officers without weakening them.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The latter created friction with the king, who wanted to remain in command of the army. The Papandreous also released all the political prisoners towards healing wounds from the Civil War.Template:Sfn

In foreign policy, Papandreou criticized the presence of American military and intelligence in Greece by describing Greece as a U.S. colony and publicly taking a neutral stand in the Cold War. Papandreou's rhetoric intensified after his father's visit as Prime Minister to Washington DC with President Johnson in July 1964 to discuss the Cyprus dispute. This criticism became politically turbulent with his interview on October 4th,Template:Cref2 resulting in his sudden but temporary resignation.Template:Sfn

Disturbing the political balance

Papandreou's public attacks against the king and the Americans disturbed the political balance.Template:Sfn Conservatives feared that Papandreou was a secret Communist, leading them to another civil war.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The U.S. embassy officials, sensitive to these public attacks during the Cold War, and his father repeatedly requested Papandreou tone down his rhetoric.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Andreas continued actively campaigning, further deepening divisions and prolonging the political instability in the pre-1967 coup period.Template:Sfn

Weeks before the coup, his father apologized to the U.S. ambassador Phillips Talbot for his son's behavior, explaining that his son "would like nothing better than to be arrested" as he would "relish the role of martyr," and that if he were not his son, then he would have been expelled from Center Union.Template:Sfn Papandreou became the target of ultra-rightists who feared that his nearly 80-year-old father would win the next election, but Andreas would be the actual focus of power in the party.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Iouliana

In 1965, Papandreou was accused in the Aspida scandal within the Hellenic Army. His father removed the defense minister and assumed the post himself to protect his son from investigations. King Constantine II of Greece refused to endorse this move since this would create a conflict of interest, which forced George Papandreou's resignation;Template:Cref2 the events following this became known as Iouliana.Template:Sfn For the next twenty-two months, there was no elected government, and hundreds of demonstrations took place, with many injured and killed in clashes with the police.Template:Sfn The King convinced 45 Center Union party members to support him and his bid to form a government, who were rejected and called apostates by those supporting Papandreous.Template:Cref2Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

To end the political deadlock, his father attempted a more moderate approach with the King; in March 1967, Papandreou publicly rejected his father's effort and attacked the whole establishment, preventing any compromise. This attracted the support of 41 members of the Center Union, aimed at securing the party's leadership.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn As the politicians were unable to sort out their differences, on 21 April 1967 anti-Communist Colonels led the Greek military junta of 1967–1974.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Junta and exile (1967–1974)

Andreas Papandreou in 1968

When the Regime of the Colonels seized power in April 1967, Papandreou was captured and charged with treason. His political colleagues, including his father, blamed him as the person responsible for the fall of Greek democracy.Template:Cref2Template:Sfn Gust Avrakotos, a Greek-American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) case officer assigned to Athens, told the Colonels that the U.S. Government wished for Papandreou to be allowed to leave the country with his family. Unofficially, Avrakotos warned them that he would return if they did not execute him.Template:Sfn Under heavy pressure from American officials and academics, the military regime released Papandreou on Christmas Day 1967 on condition that he leave the country.Template:Sfn He then moved to Sweden with his wife, four children, and mother, where he accepted a post for one year at Stockholm University.Template:Sfn Afterward, he moved to Toronto, where he stayed until 1974.Template:Sfn

Andreas Papandreou in an anti-dictatorial rally, Netherlands, 1968

In exile, Papandreou was excluded from the political forces seeking to restore democracy in Greece.Template:Cref2 He actively campaigned, using his American connections, to push for U.S. intervention against the junta, but later reversed his stance and supported military resistance instead.Template:Sfn Papandreou accused the CIA of being responsible for the 1967 coupTemplate:Cref2 and was critical of the U.S. administration, calling Greece a U.S. "colony" and a Cold War "garrison state."Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 1968, Papandreou formed an anti-dictatorship organization, the Panhellenic Liberation Movement (PAK), which sought to overthrow the military regime.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Reacting to the creation of PAK, his father stated, "Political leaders do not head up conspiratorial organizations" and urged his son to work within the Central Union party.Template:Sfn His father died in 1968, and Papandreou was not allowed by the junta regime to attend his father's funeral.Template:Sfn

Return to Greece, Restoration of democracy (1974–1981)

The logo of PASOK in the elections of 1981

Establishing PASOK

Papandreou returned to Greece after the fall of the junta in 1974, during metapolitefsi. The dominant and leading political figure in Greece was Karamanlis with the New Democracy political party; Papandreou continued to have the stigma of past events. On 6 August 1974, Papandreou dissolved PAK in Winterthur, Switzerland, without announcing it publicly.Template:Sfn He rejected the leadership of his father's old party, which had evolved into Centre Union – New Forces, and his father's ideological heritage as a Venizelist liberal, declaring himself a democratic socialist. On 3 September 1974 he established the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) party.Template:Sfn Most former PAK members and other leftist groups joined the new party. Its founding charter advocated social liberation, a radical shift in foreign policy, Greece's withdrawal from North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the closure of the U.S. military bases, and rejection of the option of membership in the European Economic Community (EEC), which was dismissed as a capitalist construct.Template:Sfn In the 1974 elections, PASOK received 13.5% of the vote.Template:Sfn

Opposition to the Constitution and rise in popularity

A new Constitution, adopted by Parliament and promulgated on 11 June 1975, established a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state. While the majority of powers resided with the prime minister, the president had sufficient powers to safeguard the constitution.Template:Sfn Papandreou boycotted the promulgation of the constitution and described it as "totalitarian," advocating instead for a "socialist" constitution without explaining what he meant.Template:Sfn Papandreou's attacks intensified upon the initiation of talks for the entry of Greece into the EEC, accusing the Greek political establishment of "national betrayal."Template:Sfn

Papandreou salvaged his political career by doubling down on his polarizing pre-junta-developed ideology, combining it with nationalist elements.Template:Cref2 This was assisted by three major events: the U.S. interactions with the junta after the coup and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, which, in his view, reinforced the conspiratorial involvement of the U.S. in the Colonels' junta,Template:Cref2Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn the oil crisis in 1973 and 1979, which negatively affected the Greek economy,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and Karamanlis's election to President of Greece in 1980, leaving a power vacuum in the upcoming 1981 elections.Template:Sfn Papandreou promised wide-ranging (and sometimes unrealistic) changes,Template:Cref2 encapsulated in PASOK's slogan "Change" (Template:Langx), which resonated with Greeks who sought a break from past politics. In the 1977 elections, PASOK received 25.3% of the vote, nearly doubling its size from 1974, and Papandreou became the leader of the opposition.Template:Sfn

Greece's entry in EEC

Papandreou's positions, along with his rising popularity, renewed fears of another military coup in the Right and Greece's allies. After the 1977 elections, Karamanlis toured the European capitals, urging for Greece's quicker entry into the EEC, hoping it would reduce the temptation for military intervention if Papandreou implemented his promises once in power.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Foreign leaders agreed with Karamanlis on a plan for Greece's entry to the EEC.Template:Sfn

Papandreou softened his tone without abandoning his initial positions. He called for a referendum regarding the entry to EEC after 1977 as he was trying to win a crucial share of the vote from the centrist Union of the Democratic Centre after its disintegration following the 1977 elections, and the entry to EEC was becoming popular among the Greeks.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Legislation to ratify the entry to EEC was passed in the Greek Parliament on 28 June 1979, with PASOK leaving the chamber.Template:Sfn Greece entered the EEC in January 1981.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In the elections of October 1981, Papandreou won with 48.1% of the vote.Template:Sfn

Leading the "Change" (1981–1985)

Template:Quote box After the 1981 election, Papandreou's PASOK was the first non-communist party with a mass-based organization, causing more people to participate in political and social institutions.Template:Sfn By the end of his first term, Papandreou moderated his approach by making considerable U-turns, either by choice or governmental dysfunction.Template:Sfn

European Economic Community

File:Athens European Council - 1983.jpg

Andreas Papandreou in Athens European Council – 1983. (1st row L-R) Bettino Craxi, Wilfried Martens, Gaston Thorn, Margaret Thatcher, François Mitterrand, Andreas Papandreou, and Helmut Kohl.

Papandreou dropped his campaign pledge to hold a referendum on EEC membership and submitted a memorandum of demands to the EEC in March 1982. The memorandum asked for special treatment and financial support based on Greece's unique characteristics. EEC delayed its response until after the date which Greece could opt out of its entry into the EEC, then rejected the Greek memorandum in March 1983.Template:Sfn However, the EEC promised support via the newly created "Integrated Mediterranean Programs" and Papandreou declared victory. Greece began to become increasingly dependent on EEC funding, reaching 4.5% of Greece's GDP by 1989. In March 1985, Papandreou stated that Greece would remain in EEC for the foreseeable future because "the cost of leaving would be much higher than the cost of staying," prompting no reaction from within the party.Template:Sfn

Economy in the early 80's

File:Greek debt over GDP, IMF dataset.png

Greek debt over GDP (%) in 1974–2000 period. The colored regions approximately highlight the prime minister's reigns; for 1989–1990, there was no stable government due to Papandreou's change in electoral law. In 1981, Papandreou altered the course of the economy by increasing its dependence on foreign borrowing. The dataset is from the International Monetary Fund website [1].

File:Greek National Income per decade for 1900-2000.png

Greek National Income per decade for 1900–2000. During Papandreou's tenure from 1981 to 1989, the national income increased at approximately the same rate as it did during the turbulent decade of 1941–1950. Source: The Bank of Greece and National Statistical Service, various open source bulletins and reports.Template:Sfn

Papandreou's government introduced wealth redistribution policies. Public pension spending nearly doubled from 1980 to 1985,Template:Sfn while manufacturing wages rose by 10% and the minimum wage jumped 32% in 1982.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Social welfare, healthcare, and insurance spending increased, credit became more accessible, and labor laws were strengthened.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn A national unemployment support system was established, and public consumption and investment grew by 7% and 10%, respectively, between 1982 and 1985.Template:Sfn

Papandreou's pro-worker policies, combined with anti-capitalist rhetoric that hindered foreign investment and a failure to address stagflation, burdened companies in Greece.Template:Sfn They already faced competitiveness issues and declining profits due to the 1970s oil crises and they were now exposed to European competition. Several multi-national companies left Greece, such as Esso, Ethyl, Pirelli, and Goodyear.Template:Sfn Shipyards and associated industries employing thousands of workers closed. Companies not already bankrupted encouraged early retirement, further burdening the Greek state, which had to assist the insurance funds.Template:Sfn In 1983, PASOK nationalized numerous industries by establishing a restructuring business agency called "Industrial Reconstruction Organisation."Template:Sfn These companies continued to operate at a loss without increasing productivity,Template:Sfn turning nationalization into patronage.Template:Sfn Agriculture also struggled, as Greece shifted from a trade surplus in agricultural products to a deficit by 1986,Template:Sfn partly due to an artificial increase of wages that led to labor shortages. Papandreou recognized the lack of productivity and increased trade deficits, admitting that "we consume more than we produce."Template:Sfn

Nationalization added to Greece's debt, with the Bank of Greece on the brink of collapse.Template:Sfn Recovery started when EEC support began in Greece, but growth was sluggish due to corruption and clientelism.Template:Sfn Unemployment rose sharply from 2.8% in 1980 to approximately 8% by the end of his first term.Template:Sfn Papandreou did not introduce progressive tax reform to increase the state's revenues to address the increasing budget deficits due to his policies, and instead used foreign loans.Template:Sfn The foreign debt increase caused external debt interest payments to rise from 2.5% of GDP in 1980 to 5.4% of GDP in 1986, more than defense and education combined in his second administration.Template:Sfn

Foreign policy, NATO, Turkey

After taking office, Papandreou assumed the Ministry of Defense, a typical move in times of war, due to fears of another coup.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn This made various leaders in the NATO alliance uncomfortable in dealing with Papandreou.Template:Sfn In December 1981, at the NATO Defence Planning Committee, Papandreou demanded NATO guarantees against Turkey, a NATO ally, stating that they were a bigger threat for Greece than Soviet countries. The NATO meeting concluded without publishing a press release for the first time.Template:Sfn While this displeased Greece's allies, Papandreou reinforced his image as a patriot in the eyes of concerned Greek voters and military wary of Turkey.Template:Sfn Despite efforts to appease the military, Papandreou struggled with discipline as two so-called "readiness exercises" in 1982 and 1983, both followed by forced resignations, were likely failed coup attempts.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Papandreou maintained high military spending levels, at 6.7% of GDP in 1982,Template:Sfn pleasing the Greek military at the expense of the economy. In 1985, his government bought 40 American F-16 and 40 French Mirage 2000 aircraftTemplate:Sfn at the cost of US$2 billion, committing Greece's defense to long-term dependence on French and American technology.Template:Sfn The purchase size was unusual given the status of the Greek economy, described in the press as the "purchase of the century" (Template:Langx).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Despite Papandreou's campaign promise to immediately remove U.S. military bases from Greece once in power, the country remained firmly within NATO. This reversal required navigation between domestic expectations—shaped by over a decade of anti-American rhetoric—and geopolitical realities, as removing the bases would have elevated Turkey's strategic value within the NATO alliance. In the 1983 agreement, all four U.S. bases established since 1952 remained in Greece for an additional five years, accompanied by increased military aid—but no guarantees against Turkish aggression.Template:Sfn Papandreou claimed the deal included a provision for base removal after 1988, granted Greece greater control over foreign bases, and secured U.S. military aid under the 7/10 ratio with Turkey.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn These statements were inaccurate, yet the treaty documents were withheld from the public for two months to sideline the opposition. Afterward, it was revealed that the agreement was nearly identical to his predecessor's beyond minor symbolic concessions.Template:Sfn

Social reforms

From 1974 to 1981, Greece's healthcare system lagged between Northern Europe and the south. Both major parties aimed to improve access, especially in rural areas, focusing on universal access and prevention.Template:Sfn When PASOK came to power, Papandreou launched the National Healthcare System (ESY) in 1983, modeled after the UK's National Health Service. While it improved access and expanded infrastructure,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn reforms were hindered by doctor shortages, union resistance, and budget constraints.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Doctors opposed giving up private practice, and loopholes allowed informal payments and unauthorized private work.Template:Sfn The partial implementation created long-term problems and failed to fully implement a socialist healthcare vision.Template:Sfn Wealthy Greeks, including Papandreou himself in 1988, continued to seek treatment abroad.Template:Sfn

In education, Papandreou expanded access, abolished entrance exams, removed classical language requirements, and promoted democratic school administration. Vocational training also improved.Template:Sfn While university attendance doubled,Template:Sfn underfunding, declining standards, and politicization of schools led to quality issues.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Promotions were based on seniority and not on merit,Template:Sfn school inspectors were removed or forced to retire, and political favoritism influenced staffing. Public schools declined, and private tutoring and foreign education became widespread.Template:Sfn By 1999, Greek families were spending more on education than almost any other Europeans, despite constitutional guarantees of free education.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The 1975 Greek Constitution guaranteed equality under the law for men and womenTemplate:Sfn and equal pay, but many pre-junta laws were outdated. Greek law was also expected to align with European standards under the Treaty of RomeTemplate:Sfn and women's advocacy groups emerged.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In the 1980s, Papandreou introduced reforms, emphasizing individuals over the family and reducing Church and state control over private life:Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn legalizing civil marriage,Template:Cref2 abolishing dowries, decriminalizing adultery, and legalizing abortion.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Maternity and parental leave policies improved, and women entered education institutions and the workforce in greater numbers,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn though under-representation in politics persisted.Template:Sfn Total fertility rate fell from 2.2 in 1980 to 1.4 in 1989, causing long-term population decline.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Post-1974 governments aimed to heal Civil War divisions.Template:Sfn Papandreou removed security screenings in 1982, restored pensions for politically dismissed civil servants in 1985, and granted war veteran status to leftist resistance fighters.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn All formal Civil War commemorations were abolished, including ceremonies commemorating Dekemvriana.Template:Sfn Papandreou touted this as "the gravestone of the spirit of national division"; New Democracy deputies, many of whose senior members were participants in the Civil War, denounced these actions as a "shameless attempt to whitewash the communist crimes during and after the war."Template:Sfn

Constitutional crisis of 1985 and elections

On March 6, 1985, Papandreou nominated Christos Sartzetakis, a Supreme Court judge favored by the Left, for president—despite earlier signaling support for incumbent Karamanlis.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Simultaneously, Papandreou proposed constitutional reforms to reduce presidential powers, arguing against Karamanlis overseeing reforms to a constitution he helped craft. Karamanlis resigned two weeks before the termination of his term, and acting president Ioannis Alevras of PASOK took over.Template:Sfn

Sartzetakis faced tense parliamentary votes, with opposition leader Mitsotakis accusing Papandreou of violating constitutional protocols.Template:Sfn Mitsotakis and Papandreou had an oral confrontation, with Mitsotakis accusing Papandreou of a lack of respect for the parliament, and Papandreou countering that Mitsotakis did not have the moral authority to speak about respect, invoking memories from Iouliana.Template:Cref2Template:Sfn Sartzetakis was elected in the third round with Alevras casting the decisive vote. Mitsotakis declared the vote illegitimate, which deepened Greece's constitutional crisis. Karamanlis warned of national "confusion and uncertainty"; state media controlled by the governing party suppressed Karamanlis's comments. The polarized confrontation continued into the election campaign.Template:Sfn

Papandreou won the June 1985 elections,Template:Sfn benefiting from increased support on the far Left from the instigated crisis.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Mitsotakis accepted Sartzetakis as president.Template:Sfn Papandreou's constitutional changes were enacted in 1986,Template:Sfn consolidating power in the office of the prime minister, transformed the liberal democracy of Greece based on the constitution of 1975 into a 'populist democracy' with a majoritarian parliamentary system and a prime minister acting as a "parliamentary autocrat."Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Stabilization effort and disillusionment (1985–1989)

Papandreou began his second administration with a comfortable majority in parliament and increased powers. Financial and corruption scandals soon surrounded his premiership while the Greek economy deteriorated. The repeal of anti-terrorism legislation and controversial foreign policy decisions led to a significant rise in terrorist incidents in Greece. Papandreou's extramarital affair and eventual divorce from his wife became a frequent topic of yellow newspapers and tabloids.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The retired Karamanlis publicly described the situation at the end of Papandreou's second administration as: "A boundless lunatic asylum,"Template:Sfn while others refer to the events surrounding 1989 as "dirty '89."Template:Sfn

Failed stabilization of the economy

File:Greek Inflation in 1974-2000 period.png

Greek inflation (%) in 1974–2000 period. The colored regions approximately highlight the prime minister's reigns; for 1989–1990, there was no stable government due to Papandreou's change in electoral law. In 1987, Papandreou abandoned the austerity measures (the dotted line estimates inflation if he had not) and delayed the convergence of the Greek economy with EEC criteria by more than four years. The 1980–2000 dataset is from the International Monetary Fund website [2], the 1974–1979 dataset is from AMECO Database [3].

In 1985, Papandreou's government applied to the EEC for a $1.75 billion loan to address Greece's widening foreign trade deficit (8.7% of GDP). The EEC required a package of economic stabilization measures as a condition for the loan.Template:Sfn These measures were implemented and included a 15% devaluation of the drachma, limits on government borrowing, stricter monetary policy, wage controls, and the elimination of some tax exemptions, which effectively reduced incomes to pre-1980 levels.Template:Sfn Public consumption fell by 2.2% on average, and public investment decreased by 18.2% in 1986 and 1987.Template:Sfn

Papandreou presented the loan as essential for Greece, arguing that without it, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would impose even harsher austerity measures.Template:Sfn Greece signed the Single European Act in February 1986, which aimed to create a single EEC market by 1992 through deregulation and reduced state intervention.Template:Sfn Simitis's policies had the intended outcome, with inflation dropping from 23% in 1986 to 13.5% in 1988,Template:Sfn and the Public Sector Borrowing Requirement falling from 18% of GDP in 1985 to 13% in 1987. Papandreou was shaken by the widespread backlash, with long-running strikes and demonstrations by farmers and major unions in early 1987.Template:Sfn With the elections approaching, Papandreou forced Simitis to resign from his ministerial position in November 1987, and the austerity measures were abandoned,Template:Cref2 violating the loan agreement.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Greece started to fall behind in terms of economic convergence with EEC goals, competitiveness, and growth, gaining a reputation nationally and in European circles as that of a 'black sheep.'Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Rapprochement with Turkey

File:Davos Declaration - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 1988 - Papandreou - Ozal.jpg

Davos World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 1988 – Handshake between Prime Ministers Andreas Papandreou and Turgut Özal.

Greece and Turkey nearly entered into war over a miscommunication in late March 1987 regarding oil exploration in the Aegean Sea near the Greek island Thasos. After the crisis, Papandreou communicated with his Turkish counterpart, Turgut Özal, and discussed over "secret talking points," diffusing the tense atmosphere.Template:Sfn In January 1988, Papandreou and Özal met at the World Economic Forum to improve the relations between their two countries. The meeting established a 'no war agreement', a hotline between the two governments, and joint committees to improve political and economic relations.Template:Sfn Papandreou sought this agreement to improve his image as a man of peace.Template:Sfn Mitsotakis criticized the meeting for focusing on bilateral disputes in Davos and "shelving" the Cyprus dispute. Papandreou later denounced the Davos process and apologized from the podium of the parliament.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Heart Surgery, Liani, and crowd size

In August 1988, Papandreou underwent major heart surgery in London, but he refused to relinquish his power. The operation and recovery lasted three months, leaving the Greek state and party without a leader.Template:Sfn It was revealed that his wife did not accompany him. Instead,Dimitra Liani, an Olympic Airways steward aged 33 that he met in 1986, was his companion in the months before the surgery.Template:Sfn Papandreou divorced his wife one month before the June 1989 elections and married Liani soon after. Liani became an influential 'gatekeeper' for Papandreou's favor and was involved in appointments in the Prime Minister's Office.Template:Sfn The sudden elevation of Liani had negative effects on the government operations and caused discontent within PASOK,Template:Sfn in which his sons had key positions.Template:Sfn

His return from London on 22 October sparked a series of controversies. No family member greeted Papandreou upon his return. Three days later, there was a sudden strike from the Greek Radio and Television Corporation (ERT) employees, alleging that PASOK gave prepared texts to ERT's employees to read as live reports at the scene of Papandreou's arrival. The government spokesman publicly declared the strike illegal and criticized the ERT's union for portraying Papandreou's arrival differently (crowd size and enthusiasm) from Karamanlis's return after the fall of the junta.Template:Sfn

Koskotas scandal

During Papandreou's second term as Greek Prime Minister, widespread corruption scandals involving PASOK were revealed, including the Bank of Crete scandal involving George Koskotas, who embezzled large sums to build a media empire that supported PASOK.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Investigations revealed serious government misconduct, including blocked audits,Template:Sfn profiteering from illegal arms sales,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn and inflated military purchases with unofficial commissions to PASOK officials.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In 1989, Time magazine published claims by Koskotas alleging that Papandreou directed over $200 millionTemplate:Cref2 in state funds to Koskotas's bank and received $600,000 in a Pampers box.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Papandreou denied the allegations, blamed U.S. interference, and sued the magazine.Template:Sfn Six ministers resigned,Template:Sfn and Papandreou barely survived two no-confidence votes.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He passed a controversial emergency legislation to shield himself from prosecution.Template:Sfn On 26 September 1989, tensions escalated when Pavlos Bakoyannis, a key figure in efforts to indict Papandreou, was assassinated by the terrorist group 17 November, just before a parliamentary debate on indictments.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn On 28 September 1989, Papandreou and four ministers were indicted by the Parliament, and he publicly denounced his accusers.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Koskotas was extradited to Greece in 1991 for trial, and Papandreou's trial began in Athens on 11 March 1991.Template:Sfn As a former prime minister, he exercised his constitutional right not to attend the trial and proclaimed it a witch-hunt. In January 1992, the Parliament-appointed tribunal of 13 judges of Supreme Special Court acquitted Papandreou of instigating the loss of funds of state companies with a 7–6 vote, and a bribery charge of receiving the proceeds of a crime with a vote of 10–3.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Surveillance state and abuse of power

In 1989, it was revealed that the National Information Service (EYR), through the state telecommunications organization OTE, had bugged over 46,000 phones of allies and enemies in politics, press, business, and law; Papandreou used the obtained information for PASOK's purposes.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn The wiretapping infrastructure was established in previous decades and used by the junta and lesser degree conservative governments to track suspects that may pose a threat at national level on anti-communist grounds. Papandreou utilized these tools and expanded the potential targets by changing the definition of "national security threat" to be any Greek citizen raising criticism against him.Template:Sfn The list of potential terrorists, according to Papandreou, included well-respected politicians such as Karamanlis, political opponents Mitsotakis and Evangelos Averoff, senior ministers in PASOK governments who may be potential successors such as Simitis and Gennimatas, newspaper publishers, police chiefs, and PASOK's governmental spokesman.Template:Sfn A former head of EYR appointed by PASOK claimed that none of these activities would have been possible without the prime minister's approval, implicating Papandreou.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In 1989, during his catharsis, Junta's files on private citizens were revealed, which were promised by Papandreou to be destroyed before 1981 and proclaimed in 1985. Instead, they were preserved, expanded upon, and updated under his direction to include anyone he viewed as a potential enemy.Template:Sfn This list included political opponents inside and outside PASOK and prominent conservatives and communists. Leaks to pro-PASOK yellow newspapers against Papandreou's opponents originated from these files.Template:Sfn Many on the Left were uncomfortable with Papandreou's threat of using the files to entice their vote by invoking the danger of these files coming into the possession of conservatives. The majority of these files were destroyed in 1989 by the collaborative government of conservatives and communists to prevent future governments from exploiting the files for political gains, as Papandreou did.Template:Sfn

File:The gang of four.jpg

Four Greek politicians (L-R: Leonidas Kyrkos, Charilaos Florakis, Mitsotakis, Konstantinos Stephanopoulos) discuss a time after the Papandreou indictment for the Koskotas scandal. Papandreou called them the "gang of four."

Beyond the financial scandals, the public was worried about the government's assertions of arbitrary power. Papandreou used the national broadcasting organization as a public relations agency.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The newspapers that were unfriendly to PASOK were openly threatened by his ministers.Template:Sfn Six months before the 1989 elections, public appointments were bestowed on about 90,000 people to gain additional votes.Template:Sfn

Catharsis (1989–1990)

In the June 1989 elections, PASOK's support dropped to 38%, largely due to the Koskotas scandal.Template:Sfn Although Mitsotakis's New Democracy secured 43%, it was insufficient to form a government. Papandreou's last-minute change of the electoral vote law required a party to win 50% of the vote to govern independently.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Papandreou hoped that while PASOK might come second in electoral votes, it could form a government with the support of the other leftist parties, but he was rejected.Template:Sfn New Democracy formed an unexpected coalition with the united Leftist parties under Synaspismos. Despite their opposing ideologies and rivalry that mainly stemmed from the Civil War, both parties sought political catharsis through a thorough investigation of PASOK's corruption.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn The decision carried additional responsibility because if charges were not filed against Papandreou during this term, future prosecutions would be impossible.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Papandreou ordered his ministers to withhold cooperation during the transition of power, resulting in official documents and state treaties going missing.Template:Sfn The transitional government was dissolved after the indictment of Papandreou for the Koskotas scandal.Template:Sfn

In the November 1989 elections, New Democracy rose to 46% and could still not form a government. A National unity government was formed by New Democracy, PASOK, and Synaspismos under 85-year-old former banker Xenophon Zolotas to break the deadlock and restore public trust. Zolotas resigned in April 1990, unable to reverse the economic decline attributed to Papandreou's earlier policies.Template:Sfn In the April 1990 elections, Mitsotakis secured enough support to form a government, with Papandreou becoming opposition leader.Template:Sfn

Papandreou in opposition (1990–1993)

Recovering from the Koskotas scandals and electoral defeat, Papandreou had a relatively quiet opposition strategy (departing from the radical rhetoric in the 1970s and early 1980s). Mitsotakis moved to reverse Papandreou's economic and foreign policies, implementing a series of difficult and unpopular reforms that Papandreou criticized.Template:Sfn

Upon taking office, Mitsotakis introduced austerity measures reminiscent of Simitis's 1985–87 program, which Papandreou failed to endorse wholeheartedly in his second term, including freezing public-sector salaries and pensions, cutting spending, raising taxes, and repealing the wage price index that had maintained high incomes but fueled inflation.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn To attract investment, his administration liquidated 44 state-controlled companies under the "Industrial Reconstruction Organisation" created by PASOK.Template:Sfn While the austerity helped the Greek economy move toward Euro convergence, it also deepened public frustration.Template:Sfn

Mitsotakis sought to repair relations with the U.S., which were damaged under Papandreou,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn by signing a defense cooperation agreement in 1990,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn supporting U.S. operations during the Gulf War, and visiting Washington as the first Greek prime minister since 1964 by Papandreou's father.Template:Sfn Mitsotakis' government ultimately fell in 1993 after Antonis Samaras left New Democracy over disagreements on the handling of the Macedonia naming dispute.Template:Sfn

Papandreou campaigned to bring back the euphoria of the early 1980s.Template:Sfn Moreover, PASOK's campaign program had dropped the past socialist ideals and instead presented itself as a "responsible" political party.Template:Sfn The Greek people voted in October 1993 the return of Papandreou to power.Template:Sfn Following the electoral results, Mitsotakis resignedTemplate:Cref2 from the leadership of New Democracy.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Return to power (1993–1996)

Papandreou's return to power was less vigorous, as he could work a few hours a day due to his fragile health; for much of 1995, he remained bedridden.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn He relied upon Lianni, now officially part of the government as Chief of Staff, alienating many of his senior ministers.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Two factions emerged in the party: the reformers faction with a pro-Europe vision and the loyalists faction advocating a populist path.Template:Sfn Papandreou favored one of the loyalists without specifying which, but party members tended to favor the reformers, reflecting Papandreou losing grip on his party.Template:Sfn

Papandreou had to bring the Greek economy to converge to Euro convergence criteria,Template:Sfn but little time remained to achieve them. He abandoned his campaign promises and continued Mitsotakis's austerity policies with minor alterations, expanding the deregulation and liberalization of the economy.Template:Sfn There was less public reaction to these policies because Papandreou found a compromising position between capital and unions,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and the pace of deregulation was slower than his predecessor.Template:Sfn

File:Bill Clinton and Andreas Papandreou.jpg

Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou on official visit with United States President William J. Clinton, Washington, April 1994. Dimitra Liani is in the background on the right.

In February 1994, Papandreou ordered an economic embargo on North Macedonia due to the ongoing naming dispute.Template:Sfn In April 1994, Papandreou visited the United States to meet with President Clinton, who had recently recognized the new republic, but failed to make any progress towards resolving the naming dispute in a favorable terms for Greece.Template:Sfn Papandreou hoped the embargo would have been a bargaining chip, but it backfired because North Macedonia gained considerable sympathy worldwide at the expense of Greece's reputation.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In September 1995, an interim accord was signed between the two countries to temporarily address the name issue and end the 18-month embargo.Template:Sfn In October 1993, Papandreou announced the "Common Defence Dogma" with the Republic of Cyprus, and the intention of expanding the territorial waters to 12 miles on November 1994, which further disturbed Turkey.Template:Cref2 These actions increased the chances for another crisis, as it happened at Imia in January 1996, right after the transition of power from Papandreou to Simitis.Template:Sfn

On 21 November 1995, Papandreou was hospitalized with advanced heart disease and renal failure at Onassio Cardiac Surgery Centre and refused to retire from office.Template:Sfn Papandreou's refusal paralyzed the government; Costas Simitis resigned in protest, and Papandreou's eldest son joined the call for his father's resignation.Template:Sfn Papandreou resigned on 16 January 1996,Template:Sfn and Simitis was elected as the new party leader on 18 January.Template:Sfn Papandreou died on 23 June 1996.Template:Sfn

Governance and political features

Governance and populism

Template:Further Papandreou had lifelong experience in political campaigning, admired for his political charisma and ability to shape national narratives. However, he had little ministerial experience,Template:Cref2Template:Sfn and spent little time preparing to govern before the 1981 election victory.Template:Sfn He appointed inexperienced, ideologically loyal ministers and purged senior civil servants, replacing them with party loyalists, thereby erasing institutional memory.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn These choices weakened the state's functionality and had lasting economic and social costs.Template:Sfn

Papandreou's authority within PASOK was nearly absolute, with critics labeling him as authoritarian.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn He expelled dissenters and used state-controlled and pro-PASOK media for character assassinations.Template:Sfn Throughout the 1980s, he frequently reshuffled his cabinet (13 times in 1981–1989, with over 100 people changing various ministerial positions) creating instability and inefficiency.Template:Sfn As he became less involved in daily governance, ministers were left without clear direction, and the government increasingly relied on Papandreou's personal authority rather than institutional strength.Template:Sfn His centralized control began to erode after the Koskotas scandal.Template:Cref2

Papandreou's populism played a central role in shaping his governance. He framed Greek politics as a battle between the oppressed Left and the privileged Right, invoking the trauma of the Civil War to rally support.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn He claimed to speak for the underprivileged, even at the expense of democratic norms, once declaring, "There are no institutions – only the people rule this country."Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn His rhetoric vilified conservatives, contributing to a sharply divided political landscape that his opponents later emulated.Template:Sfn Papandreou replaced local patronage with a centralized system controlled by PASOK by abolishing the merit-based evaluations in selecting civil servants. Civil service positions became rewards for political loyalty, weakening public institutions' functionality.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn His 1989 call to Minister of Finance Dimitris Tsovolas to "give it all [to them]" (Template:Langx)Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn ahead of elections symbolized this clientelist approach.Template:Sfn PASOK reinstated merit-based hiring in 1994, because public organizations were at near collapse after a decade without merit-based evaluations and intensified PASOK's clientelism.Template:Sfn

Despite scandals and economic deterioration, his populism retained strong public appealTemplate:Cref2Template:Sfn that was emulated by opponents and admirers.Template:Sfn This appeal allowed his son George Papandreou to become prime minister in the October 2009 parliamentary elections.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn George's premiership was marked by turmoil, as Greece was embroiled in a debt crisis that shook the country's political order and weakened PASOK's credibility, giving rise to the term Pasokification.Template:Sfn After negotiating Greece's first bailout programme with the IMF, Papandreou resigned on 10 November 2011.Template:Sfn

Alexis Tsipras, who served as Greece's prime minister in 2015–2019, is known for adopting Papandreou's mannerismsTemplate:Sfn and populist legacy. Tsipras projected himself as an anti-establishment leader, speaking directly to popular frustrations with traditional elites and foreign influence. His rhetoric of national pride and social justice, coupled with his informal demeanor, echoed the emotional appeal that defined Papandreou's era.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn While Tsipras sought to revive that legacy, his tenure was constrained by economic and political conditions originating from Greece's debt crisis and EU oversight.Template:Sfn

Stance on terrorism

After democracy was restored in 1974, Greece faced growing terrorist activity, fueled by economic struggles and radical left-wing sympathies, especially among youth inspired by the Athens Polytechnic uprising. Prime Minister Karamanlis passed a strict anti-terror legislation in 1978, which was based on the recently enacted Italian and German anti-terrorist bills. While in opposition, Papandreou criticized the law as unconstitutional and later abolished it in 1983 without offering an alternative, arguing it targeted civil liberties more than actual terrorists.Template:Sfn

File:TWA Flight 847 Captain John Testrake with hijacker in Beirut.jpg

The pilot with one of the hijackers holding a gun, who took the TWA Flight 847 passenger plane from the unguarded Athens airport in June 1985.

Papandreou's stance, combined with closer ties to radical Arab regimes, allowed terrorists to operate freely in Greece during the 1980s.Template:Sfn This led to strained U.S.-Greece relations, especially after the TWA Flight 847 hijacking, which prompted a U.S. travel advisory and a significant decline in tourism.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Terrorist acts, including bombings and murders linked to Arab and Palestinian factions, continued.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn PASOK often dismissed incidents as American conspiracies, or that the terrorists were freedom fighters.Template:Sfn

File:Drapeau de l'Organisation révolutionnaire du 17-Novembre.svg

The symbol of November 17 terrorist organization, which operated largely undisturbed under Papandreou's reign.

The primary domestic terrorist organization was the 17 November (17N), targeted prominent businessmenTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn and Western diplomats with military or intelligence roles and operated from 1975 to 2002.Template:Sfn Papandreou closed down the police unit investigating 17N,Template:Sfn and his anti-West rhetoric likely aligned with their goals since 17N ceased attacks during the first two years of his administration.Template:Sfn Once he allowed U.S. bases to remain, 17N turned against him,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn reaching its peak in late-1980s with the assassination of New Democracy Member of Parliament Pavlos Bakoyannis during the Koskotas scandal.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Throughout the 1980s, Greek police were underfunded and weakened by Papandreou's anti-authoritarian stance, resulting in few convictions.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn State surveillance was used to monitor Papandreou's political rivals instead of terrorists.Template:Sfn A policy shift came under Mitsotakis in the 1990s, who reinstated Karamanlis' anti-terror legistationTemplate:Sfn and expelled terrorist groups.Template:Sfn PASOK repealed it again in 1993.Template:Sfn

Cultural and political image

Papandreou was a charismatic orator and adept at shaping perceptions to achieve his political goals.Template:Sfn Despite his aristocratic and academic background, Papandreou could converse with Greeks of any social status. It was challenging to interpret his intentions and used a form of doublespeak, absent in the Greek political language at the time, where the meanings of terms could change depending on the situation.Template:Sfn Supporters and critics referred to him by his first name, "Andreas," a break from tradition in Greek politics that allowed him to distance himself from his family name,Template:Sfn associated with the political upheavals preceding the 1967 dictatorship and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In the 1970s, Papandreou made headlines by pairing business suits with turtleneck sweaters instead of the usual shirt and tie.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn His first appearance in Parliament in a black turtleneck was seen by conservatives as disrespectful. The controversy boosted his popularity, symbolizing his image as a "rebel" against the conservative establishment. Once in power, he adopted the more conventional style of politicians.Template:Sfn

Legacy

File:Grave of Andreas Papandreou.jpg

Papandreou's grave in the First Cemetery of Athens. On his grave is written "Greece belongs to the Greeks."

Papandreou was a realist on core political issues but a leftist ideologue on peripheral matters. In foreign policy, he continued Karamanlis's policy to remain in the European Union and NATO, both of which he vehemently opposed for years. Complementing this political realism, Papandreou's ability to publicly reject American positions gave Greeks a sense of national independence and psychological self-worth.Template:Sfn His frequent radical and combative rhetoric frustrated existing allies and did not recruit new allies (Arab statesTemplate:Sfn or countries from the eastern bloc), leaving Greece diplomatically isolated and unable to advance a solution on the Cyprus problem.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In domestic issues, Papandreou shifted political power from the conservatives, who dominated Greek politics for decades, to a more populist and centre-left locus. His social policies expanded access to healthcare and education, strengthened women's rights, and ended the sociopolitical and economic exclusion of social classes. This shift helped the Greek society become more pluralistic and converge to the Western European countries' social norms.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

His early achievements were tarnished by controversial decisions leading to a constitutional crisisTemplate:Sfn and numerous corruption scandals. The revelation Papandreou's extended use of junta's surveillance infrastructure for political gains,Template:Sfn his soft stance on terrorism,Template:Sfn damaging the legitimacy of democratic institutions,Template:Sfn and his public family drama dominated public discourse. Papandreou's populism, under the guise of inclusionist social policies, became part of PASOK's patronage, greatly expanded through the misuse of EEC funds and an unprecedented rate of foreign borrowing, which brought the Greek economy to the verge of bankruptcy twice (in 1985 and 1989). His mishandling of the Greek economy's reconstruction became a central problem for future governments. Papandreou had little impact on improving the Greek state and its institutions, and his governance became a negative reference point.Template:Sfn

Bibliography

Template:Refbegin Books

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

Articles

• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal

References

Constitutions of Greece

• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news

Books

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite thesis
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

Journals

• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite journal

Newspapers and magazines

• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite magazine
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite news

Web and other sources

• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite web

Additional reading

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite journal
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

External links

• Template:Cite news
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite web

Template:S-start Template:S-ppo Template:S-new Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft |- Template:S-off Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft |- Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft |- Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft |- Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft |- Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft |- Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-end