1. George Papandreou is the leader who will be remembered for having put Greece and consequently the European community, into the program of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), despite the fact that at the time this was against the principles of Europe and the code of the European Commission. He managed to do this after winning the elections on October 6, 2009, on the slogan – “Lefta Yparhoun” (There is money!)
Here’s the Lefta Yparhoun song –
2. Before George Papandreou became Yiorgos he was called Jeffrey says George Lakopoulos in his book on Andreas Papandreou, titled “The Waves Speak to Him…” (Kastaniotis Press). Apparently, the story goes that there is no registration of a baptism for the first son of the PASOK founder Andreas Papandreou from his second marriage to Polish-Jew Margaret Chant. Born in 1952, their eldest son remained unbaptised until he came to Greece. His family, aware that this would not go well in Greek political circles, performed a ‘secret’ baptism rite for all four of their children in 1959 at Kastri. At that time, Jeffrey was 7 years of age and he received his grandfather’s name, George, with which he henceforth became known.
3. He has affectionately come to be known to Greeks as GAP (George Andreas Papandreou).
4. George Papandreou is annoyed by church psalms. In this video archive, a priest reveals that every feast day of St. George at Xylokastro where Papandreou holidays, Papandreou sends policemen to the church to stop the service.
5. At college, the former socialist PM was dormitory roommates with the former conservative New Democracy (ND) prime minister Antonis Samaras. They slept together at Armherst College during their student years and oh, the bedtime conversations, they must have had in those decades before becoming the first and second Greek leaders to sign harsh austerity programs on behalf of Greece.
In this photo from 1973, Papandreou is front left and Samaras is rear right.
6. Papandreou was elected to the Greek Parliament in 1981, the year his father became Prime Minister, as MP for the constituency of Achaea. He became Under Secretary for Cultural Affairs in 1985, Minister of Education and Religious Affairs in 1988 (even though most of his education was abroad), Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1993, Minister for Education and Religious Affairs again in 1994, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs again in 1996 and Minister of Foreign Affairs in February 1999. He was also Minister Responsible for Government Coordination for the Bid for the 2004 Olympic Games in 1997.
In his second term as Minister of Education, Papandreou was the first politician in Greece to introduce affirmative action, allocating 5% of university posts for the Muslim minority in Thrace. He was also instrumental in initiating the Open University in Greece.
7. Chief corruption prosecutor Eleni Raikou issued criminal charges against high-ranking officials of the Greek foreign ministry who served in the early 2000 and who were responsible for approving state funds to non-governmental organizations. The case file concerning officials was forwarded to Greek Parliament in a symbolic move as the statute of limitations protects former socialist PASOK prime minister George Papandreou – who was foreign minister at the time – and his deputy with immunity from prosecution.
8. Α fitness freak, upon taking over the leadership of the socialist PASOK party, Papandreou ordered 130,000-euros worth of luxury sports equipment for the party’s archaic offices at the 2nd floor of the Harilaou Trikoupi Street. State funding was used to buy the cross-trainers with TV sets and other high-tech sports gadgets even though the political party faced numerous financial problems at the time. The party had initially stated that the training equipment, funded by taxpayers, would be donated to sports clubs once the leader had finished with them, but the search was on to sell them off second-hand in 2012.
9. As prime minister he completed the sideline 10-kilometer split of the AthensMarathon, while PM he canoed to Spetses from Porto Heli (something he does regularly) and prior to taking over the leadership of the country in 2009 he suffered a sports injury while trying to fix his bike chain while the bike was in motion.
10. It is rumored that the 63-year-old is now calmer and happier than ever thanks to his gym instructress, Artemis Papakonstantopoulou, who apparently has changed his life. She is an expert at spinning that Papandreou has undertaken with relish and it is said that he sees Artemis more than he sees his wife, Ada Papandreou.
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George Papandreou’s son from his first marriage to Eva Georgiou – Andreas Papandreou – is set to marry volleyball player Paulina Patramani and they intend to live in Norway where the son is pursuing a career in alternative therapies such as acupuncture.