Konstantinos Mitsotakis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Μητσοτάκης, ; – 29 May 2017) was a Greek politician who was 7th Prime Minister of Greece from 1990 to 1993. He graduated in law and economics from the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...

. His son, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, was elected as the Prime Minister of Greece following the

2019 Greek legislative election Legislative elections were held in Greece on 7 July 2019. The elections were called by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on 26 May 2019 after the ruling Syriza party lost the European and local elections. They were the first national elections sin ...

Family and personal life

Mitsotakis was born on 31 October 1918 in Halepa suburb,

Chania Chania ( el, Χανιά ; vec, La Canea), also spelled Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno and west of Heraklion. The muni ...

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

, into an already powerful political family, linked to the distinguished statesman Eleftherios Venizelos on both sides. His grandfather (1845–1898), a lawyer, journalist and short-time MP of then Ottoman-ruled Crete, founded the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, then "''Party of the Barefeet''" () with Venizelos, and married the latter's sister, Katigo Venizelou, Constantine's grandmother. The 1878 Pact of Halepa, granting an Ottoman Crete a certain level of autonomy, was signed in his very home. His father (1883–1944), also MP for Chania in the

Greek Parliament The Hellenic Parliament ( el, Ελληνικό Κοινοβούλιο, Elliniko Kinovoulio; formally titled el, Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Voulí ton Ellínon, Boule of the Hellenes, label=none), also known as the Parliament of the He ...

(1915–20) and leader of the Cretan volunteers fighting with the Greek army in the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...

, married Stavroula Ploumidaki, daughter of , the first Christian mayor of Chania and an MP at the time of the

Cretan State The Cretan State ( el, Κρητική Πολιτεία, Kritiki Politeia; ota, كريد دولتى, Girid Devleti) was established in 1898, following the intervention by the Great Powers (United Kingdom, France, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Germany ...

, himself a first cousin of Eleftherios Venizelos. Mitsotakis was married to

Marika Mitsotakis Marika Mitsotakis (née Giannoukou; November 29, 1930 – May 6, 2012) was the wife of the former Prime Minister of Greece Konstantinos Mitsotakis. She was regarded as a prominent political voice with the New Democracy political party, her husban ...

( née Giannoukou) from 1953 until her death on 6 May 2012. They had four children. His son, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, is the Prime Minister of Greece and since January 2016 leader of the conservative

New Democracy New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path that was decisively distinc ...

party (a position previously held by Mitsotakis), and was a

government minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, ...

in 2013–15. His first daughter,

Dora Bakoyannis Theodora "Dora" Bakoyanni ( el, Θεοδώρα "Ντόρα" Μπακογιάννη; ; ''née'' Mitsotakis; el, Μητσοτάκη, links=no; born May 6, 1954) is a Greek politician. From 2006 to 2009 she was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece ...

, ND Member of Parliament, founder and president of Democratic Alliance party, was the mayor of Athens (2003–2006) and the

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

from 2006 to 2009. His second daughter Alexandra Mitsotakis Gourdain is a Greek

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.Minoan and other Cretan antiquities, which he and his wife donated to the Greek state. He was also very interested in promoting reforesting of Greece, including in particular the mountains of Crete.

Venizelos/Mitsotakis family tree

Political career

Mitsotakis was elected to the

for the first time in 1946, standing for the

in his native prefecture of

. He followed most of the old Liberal Party into

Georgios Papandreou Georgios Papandreou ( ''Geórgios Papandréou''; 13 February 1888 – 1 November 1968) was a Greek politician, the founder of the Papandreou political dynasty. He served three terms as prime minister of Greece (1944–1945, 1963, 1964–196 ...

Center Union The Centre Union ( el, Ἕνωσις Κέντρου ''Énōsis Kéntrou'', abbreviated ΕΚ) was a major centrist political party in Greece, created in 1961 by Georgios Papandreou.Clogg, 1987, pp. 39–40 History The Centre Union was a politic ...

in 1961. But in 1965 he led a group of dissidents, known as the " July apostates", who crossed the floor to bring about the fall of , which earned him the long-time hatred of Papandreou loyalists as well as a significant part of Greek society. He was arrested in 1967 by the

military junta A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...

but managed to escape to Turkey with a help of Turkish foreign minister

İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil (1908, Istanbul – December 30, 1993, Ankara, Turkey) was a Turkish politician, being a member of the Justice Party ( tr, Adalet Partisi). He also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs three times in the 1960s ...

and lived in exile with his family in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, France, until his return to Greece in 1974, following the restoration of democracy. In 1974 he campaigned as an independent and failed to be elected to Parliament. He was re-elected in

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

as founder and leader of the small Party of New Liberals and in 1978 he merged his party with

Constantine Karamanlis Konstantinos G. Karamanlis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Γ. Καραμανλής, ; 8 March 1907 – 23 April 1998), commonly Anglicisation, anglicised to Constantine Karamanlis or just Caramanlis, was a four-time prime minister and List of he ...

(ND) party. He served as minister for economic coordination from 1978 to 1980, and as

Minister for Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

from 1980 to 1981. The ND government was defeated by

Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgiou Papandreou ( el, Ανδρέας Γεωργίου Παπανδρέου, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics, known for founding the political party PASOK, ...

PASOK The Panhellenic Socialist Movement ( el, Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Κίνημα, Panellínio Sosialistikó Kínima, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK, (; , ) is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012, it ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

, and in 1984 Mitsotakis succeeded

Evangelos Averoff Evangelos Averoff-Tositsa (Greek: Ευάγγελος Αβέρωφ Τοσίτσας) (Trikala, 17 April 1910 – Athens, 2 January 1990) was a Greek politician, leader of the right wing party New Democracy (1981–1984), member of parliament, an ...

as ND leader. He and Andreas Papandreou, the son of Georgios Papandreou, dominated Greek politics for the next decade: their mutual dislike dated back to the fall of Georgios Papandreou's government in 1965. Mitsotakis soundly defeated Papandreou, embroiled in the Bank of Crete scandal, in the June 1989 election. PASOK lost 36 seats in one of the largest defeats of a sitting government in modern Greek history. However, in a controversial move, Papandreou's government had modified the election system just two months earlier, to require a party to win 50 percent of the vote in order to govern alone. Thus, even though ND was the clear first-place party, with 20 more seats than PASOK, it only won 44 percent of the vote, leaving it six seats short of a majority. After Mitsotakis failed to garner enough support to form a government,

Court of Cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case, they only interpret the relevant law. In this they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In th ...

president Yannis Grivas became acting prime minister and presided over new elections in

November 1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

. This election yielded the same result as in June. ND finished 20 seats ahead of PASOK, but only won 46.2 percent of the vote and came up three seats short of a majority. Former Bank of Greece president

Xenophon Zolotas Xenophon Euthymiou Zolotas ( el, Ξενοφών Ζολώτας, 26 April 1904 – 10 June 2004) was a Greek economist and served as an interim non-party Prime Minister of Greece. Life and career Born in Athens on 26 April 1904. He graduated fro ...

became interim prime minister and presided over fresh elections in April 1990. The result was the same as the two 1989 elections. ND won a landslide victory, finishing 27 seats ahead of PASOK. However, Mitsotakis was still unable to govern alone, as ND won 150 seats, one short of a majority. Finally, the lone MP from Democratic Renewal agreed to a coalition with ND, allowing Mitsotakis to form government by one seat. Mitsotakis's government moved swiftly to cut government spending as much as possible, privatise state enterprises and reform the civil service. In foreign policy, Mitsotakis took the initiative to have Greece formally recognize the state of Israel, and moved to reopen talks on American bases in Greece and to restore confidence among Greece's economic and political partners. In June 1990, Mitsotakis became the first Greek Premier to visit the United States since 1974. He promised to meet Greece's

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

obligations, to prevent the use of Greece as a base for terrorism, and to stop the rhetorical attacks on the United States that had been Papandreou's hallmark. Mitsotakis also supported a new dialogue with

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, but made progress on the Cyprus dispute a prerequisite for improvement on other issues. Papandreou, cleared of charges arising from the Bank of Crete scandal in a 7–6 vote at the ''Eidiko Dikastirio'' (Special Court), criticised Mitsotakis's government for its economic policies, for not taking a sufficiently strict position over the naming dispute with the newly independent

Republic of Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

(Mitsotakis favored a composite name such as "Nova Macedonia", for which he was accused at the time of being too lenient) as well as over Cyprus, and for being too pro-American. The heightened public irritation over the Macedonia naming issue caused several ND parliament members, led by

Antonis Samaras Antonis Samaras ( el, Αντώνης Σαμαράς, ; born 23 May 1951) is a Greek politician who served as 14th Prime Minister of Greece from 2012 to 2015. A member of the New Democracy party, he was its president from 2009 until 2015. Samaras ...

, to withdraw their support from Mitsotakis's government and form a new political party,

Political Spring Political Spring ( el, Πολιτική Άνοιξη, ''Politiki Anixi'') was a Greek conservative political party founded in June 1993 by Antonis Samaras. The party was formed after Antonis Samaras broke away from the governing New Democracy ...

('' , ''). Mitsotakis' government restored the pre-1989 electoral system, which allowed Papandreou's PASOK to obtain a clear parliamentary majority after winning the premature 1993 elections and return to office. Mitsotakis then resigned as ND leader, although he remained the party's honorary chairman. In January 2004 Mitsotakis announced that he would retire from Parliament at the 7 March election, 58 years after his first election.

Death

Mitsotakis died on 29 May 2017 in Athens, aged 98 of natural causes His state funeral was held on 31 May 2017 and he was buried in Chania.

Honours

Companion of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(Honorary) (6 January 1992).

References

External links

The Konstantinos Mitsotakis Foundation/Ίδρυμα Κωνσταντίνος Μητσοτάκης
, - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitsotakis, Konstantinos 1918 births 2017 deaths 20th-century prime ministers of Greece Apostasia of 1965 Centre Union politicians Foreign ministers of Greece Greek MPs 1946–1950 Greek MPs 1950–1951 Greek MPs 1951–1952 Greek MPs 1952–1956 Greek MPs 1956–1958 Greek MPs 1958–1961 Greek MPs 1961–1963 Greek MPs 1963–1964 Greek MPs 1964–1967 Greek MPs 1977–1981 Greek MPs 1981–1985 Greek MPs 1985–1989 Greek MPs 1989 (June–November) Greek MPs 1989–1990 Greek MPs 1990–1993 Greek MPs 1993–1996 Greek MPs 1996–2000 Greek MPs 2000–2004 Greek Resistance members Honorary Companions of the Order of Australia Leaders of New Democracy (Greece) Liberal Party (Greece) politicians Ministers for Mercantile Marine of Greece Konstantinos National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni National Political Union (1946) politicians Party of New Liberals politicians Politicians from Chania Finance ministers of Greece Prime Ministers of Greece Greek military personnel of World War II