Panos Kammenos
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Panagiotis "Panos" Kammenos ( el, Παναγιώτης "Πάνος" Καμμένος, ; born 12 May 1965) is a Greek politician and the founder of the right-wing party "
Independent Greeks The Independent Greeks - National Patriotic Alliance ( el, Ανεξάρτητοι Έλληνες (ΑΝΕΛ), ''Anexartitoi Ellines'', ANEL) is a national-conservative political party in Greece. The party was the junior coalition partner to the ...
", which formed the governing coalition of the
Hellenic Parliament The Hellenic Parliament ( el, Ελληνικό Κοινοβούλιο, Elliniko Kinovoulio; formally titled el, Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Voulí ton Ellínon, Boule (ancient Greece), Boule of the Greeks, Hellenes, label=none), also kno ...
with the Syriza Party after Kammenos met with
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Alexis Tsipras Alexis Tsipras ( el, Αλέξης Τσίπρας, ; born 28 July 1974) is a Greek politician serving as Leader of the Official Opposition since 2019. He served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019. Tsipras has led the Coalition of th ...
, on 26 January 2015. He was named Greece's Minister of National Defence on 27 January 2015. He served until 20 August 2015, when the Syriza-ANEL coalition resigned, and continued as a lame duck until 28 August, when he was succeeded by the interim Minister,
Ioannis Giangos Air Chief Marshal Ioannis Giangos ( el, Ιωάννης Γιάγκος, born 1951) is a retired Greek Air Force officer and a former Chief of the National Defense General Staff of Greece. He served as an interim Minister for National Defence in t ...
. He again became Minister of National Defence on 23 September 2015 when the Syriza-ANEL coalition was re-created following the election of 20 September 2015.


Early life and career

Kammenos was born in Athens, Greece. He studied economics and psychology at the University of
Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
Business Administration School of Managers. In 1993, he was first elected
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
in the
New Democracy New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in Chinese Communist Revolution, post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path ...
in the Second District of
Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
.


Independent Greeks party

On 24 February 2012, through his personal social networking sites, Kammenos announced the establishment of the new party called " Independent Greeks (ANEL)" and published the Declaration. Yiannis Manolis directly expressed its intention to join the new party format. He expressed support for
Elena Kountoura Elena Kountoura ( el, Έλενα Κουντουρά, also romanized as ''Elena Koundoura''; born 2 November 1962), is a Greek politician, Member of the European Parliament, ex-Minister of Tourism (resigned on 3 May 2019 in order to participate in ...
, Panagiotis Melas and other MPs. He advocated for eliminating a large part of Greece's debt, which was equivalent to 175 per cent of the country's
gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a money, monetary Measurement in economics, measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjec ...
. Kammenos and the Independent Greeks took a hardline stance against illegal immigration into Greece. The Independent Greeks and Kammenos are
Eurosceptics Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek refor ...
. He walked the halls of the Greek Parliament wearing a T-shirt that said, "Greece is not for sale."


2015 elections

With 3.7% of votes won in the snap elections, Independent Greeks, the junior coalition partner in Tsipras's last government, entered the parliament. Panos Kammenos formed a government with Tsipras and Syriza. As a
minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from coun ...
, in 2015, he refounded after years the
Mixed Groups of Reconstruction Machines Mixed Groups of Reconstruction Machines ( el, Μικτές Ομάδες Μηχανημάτων Ανασυγκροτήσεως), commonly known by the acronym MOMA, was a Greek military construction organization which was active from 1957 to 1992. ...
(MOMA).


Institute of Geopolitical Studies and lobbying for Russia

Kammenos co-founded with his friend, University of Thrace professor Filippos Tsalidis, Athens-based Institute of Geopolitical Studies. In November 2014, the Institute signed a "memorandum of understanding" with the
Russian Institute for Strategic Studies The Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (RISS) or (RISI) or (RISY) (russian: Российский институт стратегических исследований (РИСИ)) is a Russian research and analytical center formed by decree ...
(RISI). RISI had been part of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Russia′s primary overseas espionage agency, until it was brought under the office of the Russian president in 2009. Since January 2017, RISI has been headed by the ex-chief of the SVR,
Mikhail Fradkov Mikhail Yefimovich Fradkov ( rus, Михаи́л Ефи́мович Фрадко́в, p=mʲɪxɐˈil jɪˈfʲiməvʲɪtɕ frɐtˈkof; born 1 September 1950) is a Russian politician who served as Prime Minister of Russia from 2004 to 2007. An In ...
. In December 2019, speaking to a conference held by the Institute, Panos Kammenos effectively admitted that he had blackmailed the primate of the
Church of Greece The Church of Greece ( el, Ἐκκλησία τῆς Ἑλλάδος, Ekklēsía tē̂s Helládos, ), part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, is one of the autocephalous churches which make up the communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Its ...
, Archbishop
Ieronymos II Ieronymos II ( el, Ιερώνυμος B’, ''Ierōnymos II'', ; born 10 March 1938) is the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece and as such the primate of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece. He was elected on 7 February 2008. Ieronymos ...
, on behalf of Russia by transmitting Russia′s threat to withdraw Russia′s alleged guarantees to Greece to preclude occupation by
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
of
Greek island Greece has many islands, with estimates ranging from somewhere around 1,200 to 6,000, depending on the minimum size to take into account. The number of inhabited islands is variously cited as between 166 and 227. The largest Greek island by a ...
s such as
Kastellorizo Kastellorizo or Castellorizo (; el, Καστελλόριζο, Kastellórizo), officially Megisti ( ''Megísti''), is a Greece, Greek island and Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality of the Dodecanese in the Eastern Mediterranean ...
,
Lemnos Lemnos or Limnos ( el, Λήμνος; grc, Λῆμνος) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos regional unit, which is part of the North Aegean region. The p ...
and others in the Eastern Aegean in the event that the Church of Greece recognised the Church of Ukraine.


Awards

He has been honored with the Grand Cross of Merit from the
Primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians (monkeys and apes, the latter including huma ...
of the
Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church The Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia ( cs, Pravoslavná církev v Českých zemích a na Slovensku; sk, Pravoslávna cirkev v českých krajinách a na Slovensku) is a self-governing body of the Eastern Orthodox Church that territ ...
, the Medal of Honor Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Order of Knight of the National Order of Merit by the President of France
Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...
. In 2007, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Mercantile Marine, Aegean and Island Policy in the government of
Kostas Karamanlis Konstantinos A. Karamanlis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Αλεξάνδρου Καραμανλής; born 14 September 1956), commonly known as Kostas Karamanlis ( el, Κώστας Καραμανλής, ), is a Greek politician who served as the ...
, Minister and politician where the head was
Georgios Voulgarakis Georgios Voulgarakis () (born 4 June 1959 in Heraklion) is a Greek politician and the former Minister for Mercantile Marine, Aegean Sea and Island Policy. Voulgarakis was born in CreteGeorge Papandreou George Andreas Papandreou ( el, Γεώργιος Ανδρέας Παπανδρέου, , shortened to ''Giorgos'' () to distinguish him from his grandfather; born 16 June 1952) is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from ...
of treason. He said that the Hellenic Postbank, a public banking arm of the Greek government, oddly purchased a $1.3 billion worth of credit default swap (CDS) to insure against a default of the Greek government in spring and summer of 2009 (so indirectly, the government bought protection against its own default), and those CDS was then subsequently sold in December 2009 to a private firm named IJ Partners for $40 million. Naturally, as the Greek debt crisis was getting progressively worse, the CDS in question was probably worth $27 billion in June 2011. In 2013, a Greek court decided that he should pay 30,000 euros for
libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
against the brother of George Papandreou and in 2014, a court decided that Kammenos accusations were false and slanderous and he should pay 100,000 euros to the IJ PARTNERS. Kammenos has stated that "Europe is governed by German neo-Nazis". He has also called German Minister of Finance
Wolfgang Schäuble Wolfgang Schäuble (; born 18 September 1942) is a German lawyer, politician and statesman whose political career has spanned for more than five decades. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he is one of the longest-serving politi ...
''
persona non grata In diplomacy, a ' (Latin: "person not welcome", plural: ') is a status applied by a host country to foreign diplomats to remove their protection of diplomatic immunity from arrest and other types of prosecution. Diplomacy Under Article 9 of the ...
'' because of war reparations that Kammenos demands from Germany. In 2013, he was investigated by a court for urging supporters to
lynch Lynch may refer to: Places Australia * Lynch Island, South Orkney Islands, Antarctica * Lynch Point, Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica * Lynch's Crater, Queensland, Australia England * River Lynch, Hertfordshire * The Lynch, an island in the River ...
a local mayor who was supporting gold mining in Skouries. Kammenos said to his supporters "(the mayor) must not be able to walk around. Lynch him." In December 2014, Kammenos stated on television that Greek Buddhist, Jewish and Muslim religious institutions do not pay taxes (in contrast to the
Church of Greece The Church of Greece ( el, Ἐκκλησία τῆς Ἑλλάδος, Ekklēsía tē̂s Helládos, ), part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, is one of the autocephalous churches which make up the communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Its ...
, which was exempted from income taxes beginning in 2004 and whose clergy benefit from state salaries, but also began paying property taxes on its non-monastic, non-worship space properties in 2011) as part of a comment on actions or perceived policies of the
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. Samara ...
government with which he disagreed: The remark was condemned by Greece's Jewish community and government officials, who called it "conspiracy theories, lies and slander”. Kammenos has very close links with the inner circle of Russian president
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
. In March 2015 Kammenos said that "If they deal a blow to Greece, then they should know Greece will suspend the Dublin II treaty, and migrants will get their ID and documents and will travel to Berlin". He also stated that "If Europe leaves us in the crisis, we will flood it with migrants, and it will be even worse for Berlin if in that wave of millions of economic migrants there will be some jihadists of the
Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
too” and threatened that Greece would "give to migrants from everywhere the documents they need to travel in the
Schengen area The Schengen Area ( , ) is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and j ...
." In 2016, he posted on
twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
a photo holding a dead shark and tweeted “Catching the big sharks one by one,” in reference to the businessmen that the Greek government is supposed to have targeted. The shark was of the
Near-threatened species A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...
of
Hexanchus griseus The bluntnose sixgill shark (''Hexanchus griseus''), often simply called the cow shark, is the largest hexanchoid shark, growing to in length. It is found in tropical and temperate waters worldwide and its diet is widely varied by region. The ...
, and was protected by the Greek law. The hunting was banned since 1981. Public opinion and WWF condemned his action. The WWF also noted that the Minister's picture is “shameful and shows no bravery,” but a disregard for Greek law. In 2017, Panos Kammenos made a trip to London where he admitted staying in an expensive hotel and using the Greek Embassy's luxury car to go shopping for a Barbie doll for his daughter. Opposition said that the amount of money he declared in his bank account “no way justifies the expenses that he appears to be constantly making,” but there haven't been any investigations of his behavior or spending. Later, he also admitted that he visited and played at the hotel's casino. The New Democracy's vice president
Adonis Georgiadis Spyridon-Adonis Georgiadis ( el, Σπυρίδων-Άδωνις Γεωργιάδης; born 6 November 1972), better known as Adonis Georgiadis, is a Greek right-wing populist politician, telemarketer and publisher. A former member of the Popular O ...
commented that according to the code of conduct of the Ministers the presence of the Minister of Defence at a casino is a criminal offence. President of
To Potami The River ( el, Το Ποτάμι, To Potami, ) was a centrist and social-liberal political party in Greece. The party was founded in February 2014 by Stavros Theodorakis. The party did not run in the 2019 elections and had no seats in the Hel ...
,
Stavros Theodorakis Stavros Theodorakis ( ; born 1963) is a Greek journalist and politician, who founded and led the social liberal party ''To Potami'' (''The River''). In the January 2015 election he was elected to the Hellenic parliament, with his party receivin ...
, wondered how Panos Kammenos could afford to go on vacations to the
Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
and play at the casino while he officially claims that his bank deposits worth only 8,500 euros. The same year his name was also involved in an arm deal scandal. The deal was to sell 66 million euros in missiles and bombs to
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
. Opposition accused him that the attempted deal was being done through a shadowy middleman, a broker that was in violation of laws requiring defense contracts to be at the government-to-government level after former defense ministers were caught up in scandals and stealing scores of millions of euros. The Greek Consul in Saudi Arabia said that Saudi authorities were unaware of who the middleman was, and asked for the agreement to become government to government. In addition the middleman was a convicted arms smuggler. Also, human rights groups, like
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
, called on Greece to immediately stop the sale and transfer of military equipment to Saudi Arabia as the munitions could end up being used by the Gulf state in its war against neighbouring Yemen, where civilians were also targeted. Same year, after a
Eurogroup The Eurogroup is the recognised collective term for the informal meetings of the finance ministers of the eurozone—those member states of the European Union (EU) which have adopted the euro as their official currency. The group has 19 member ...
meeting and a deal between Greece and EU, the
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account of Panos Kammenos tweeted a photo of a tie with
Phallus A phallus is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history a figure with an erect penis is described as ithyphallic. Any object that symbolically—or, more precisel ...
. After six minutes the tweet deleted and the minister claimed it was “the kid” who did it. He did not clarify whether it was his son or some hacker. His explanation was not accepted and the opposition, twitter users and media condemned the tweet. People wondered if Kammenos had intentionally uploaded the controversial tie photo in a clumsy but clear attempt to link the agreement with the promise of prime minister
Alexis Tsipras Alexis Tsipras ( el, Αλέξης Τσίπρας, ; born 28 July 1974) is a Greek politician serving as Leader of the Official Opposition since 2019. He served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019. Tsipras has led the Coalition of th ...
to wear a tie when the country returns to growth. In September 2018, Greek journalists detained over an article that alleges mishandling of European Union funds meant to improve conditions in migrant hotspots across the country. The journalists were detained following a complaint by Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, whose ministry is handling the EU funding. The article published alleged some of the recipients of EU funding were businessmen connected to Kammenos. Opposition parties have condemned the detention. The detention of the journalists was condemned by the opposition and by the Journalists’ Union of Athens Daily Newspapers. The
OSCE The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...
Representative on Freedom of the Media,
Harlem Désir Harlem Jean-Philippe Désir (; born 25 November 1959) is a French politician who served in the government of France as Secretary of State for European Affairs from 2014 to 2017. Previously he was First Secretary of the French Socialist Party. Sin ...
, denounced the arrest of the journalists and welcomed that the prosecutor decided not to immediately press charges, a move that led to their release. He called on authorities to decriminalize
defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
. The
European Anti-Fraud Office The European Anti-Fraud Office (commonly known as OLAF, from the french: Office européen de lutte antifraude) is a body mandated by the European Union (EU) with protecting the Union's financial interests. It was founded on 28 April 1999, unde ...
(OLAF) started an investigation over the potential misuse of EU funds. The OLAF spokesperson said that the investigation into “alleged irregularities concerning the provision of EU-funded food for refugees in Greece” was launched following information submitted by the European Commission's directorate general for migration and home affairs in 2017 and “As the investigation is on-going, OLAF cannot issue any further comment at this stage”. Adding that “The fact that OLAF is looking into the matter does not mean that any-one person or entity involved has committed an irregularity or fraud. OLAF fully respects the presumption of innocence.” A source from the Commission said the case involving the Greek Defence ministry was the only known example of irregularities that were sent to OLAF after 2017's annual Directorate-General of Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME). On January 13, 2019, Kammenos and his
Independent Greeks The Independent Greeks - National Patriotic Alliance ( el, Ανεξάρτητοι Έλληνες (ΑΝΕΛ), ''Anexartitoi Ellines'', ANEL) is a national-conservative political party in Greece. The party was the junior coalition partner to the ...
party quit Greece's ruling coalition over a deal struck on the
Macedonia naming dispute The use of the country name "Macedonia (terminology), Macedonia" was disputed between Greece and the North Macedonia, Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) between 1991 and 2019. The dispute was a source of instability in the Balkans#W ...
, potentially leaving the governing coalition without a workable majority in parliament.


Personal life

Kammenos is described as "a devout Orthodox Christian." He is the owner of ''Iliatoras of London'', a 60 feet yacht (18m). The yacht was purchased by his father in 1993 using an offshore shell company for tax avoidance purposes.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kammenos, Panos 1965 births Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite Eastern Orthodox Christians from Greece Greek MPs 1993–1996 Greek MPs 1996–2000 Greek MPs 2000–2004 Greek MPs 2004–2007 Greek MPs 2007–2009 Greek MPs 2009–2012 Greek MPs 2012 (May) Greek MPs 2012–2014 Greek MPs 2015 (February–August) Greek nationalists Independent Greeks politicians Living people Ministers of National Defence of Greece New Democracy (Greece) politicians Politicians from Athens University of Lyon alumni Greek MPs 2015–2019