Forty-two-year-old Kyriakos Pierrakakis is preparing for his pre-election tour across Europe — starting tomorrow in Ireland — ahead of the Eurogroup presidential election on December 11.

Coincidentally, 11 is the crucial number — the number of votes needed for 50% + 1 in order for one of the eurozone finance ministers to be elected to a position which, in the early years after the introduction of the euro and during the first phase of the Greek crisis, was dominated by Jean-Claude Juncker. Juncker — helped also by the 2008 crisis — transformed this informal body into a powerful decision-making club steering the integration of economic policies in the eurozone.

Pierrakakis’ only opponent in the race for Eurogroup president is Vincent van Peteghem, also from the European People’s Party, Belgium’s deputy prime minister and minister of finance. His candidacy comes at a peculiar moment: Belgium’s coalition government is in sharp conflict with the European Commission over €140 billion in frozen Russian assets. The Belgians refuse to unfreeze them for the reconstruction of Ukraine, fearing future legal action from Russia — provoking the anger of the Baltic states, which together hold three votes in the Eurogroup.

Kyriakos Pierrakakis: From Leonteios to the Eurogroup – His path and the bid for leadership of the Eurozone’s Finance Ministers

If the Greek Finance Minister’s candidacy succeeds, it will not be the first time the presidency goes to a politician from a country that endured the trials of the bailout memoranda. He would be the third, following the Portuguese socialist Mário Centeno (2018–2020) and the Irish Christian Democrat Paschal Donohoe, who is stepping down to take a position at the World Bank.

However, both Portugal and Ireland completed their bailout programs within three years — in 2014 — at a time when Greece was about to experience Yanis Varoufakis’ negotiations with the Eurogroup, then chaired by the well-known to Greeks Jeroen Dijsselbloem, of the Dutch Labour Party, which later suffered its own pasokification…

In that sense, a potential election of Pierrakakis as Eurogroup president would be a powerful symbol of Greece’s page turning — in a Europe where much has been upended, with once-dominant economies like France and Germany now facing serious fiscal problems due to the loss of competitiveness brought on after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the dramatic upheaval in the energy market.

Kyriakos Pierrakakis: From Leonteios to the Eurogroup – His path and the bid for leadership of the Eurozone’s Finance Ministers

On a personal level, Pierrakakis has managed, in a short period of time, to be regarded as an essential partner for any eurozone country — even Germany — that seeks reforms, as Berlin’s reputable Handelsblatt wrote:
“On Monday evening, invited by the Hertie School, he spoke about the reform achievements of his country. He was greeted with the words, ‘Germany can learn a lot from Greece.’ The roles have been reversed,” the German economic newspaper noted, reminding readers that ten years ago European leaders were discussing a possible Grexit, as Greece needed a third bailout package. GDP had fallen 25% during the crisis, debt rose above 200%, and unemployment hit 28%, while the German government under Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble “insisted on strict reform conditions, and when a Greek politician traveled to Berlin, he usually had to listen to lectures,” the article stated.

Now Greece is giving the lectures through Pierrakakis:
“He spoke with Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (Social Democrat) about next steps toward a European Capital Markets Union, and with Digital Transformation Minister Carsten Wüldberger (Christian Democrat) about modernizing public administration — a reform Pierrakakis had successfully advanced in Greece in his previous role.” In Berlin, Handelsblatt wrote, the Greek politician “is not a supplicant, but a sought-after adviser.”

Kyriakos Pierrakakis: From Leonteios to the Eurogroup – His path and the bid for leadership of the Eurozone’s Finance Ministers

Athens – MIT – Athens

Of Maniot origin, born in 1983 and raised in Patissia, he attended Leonteios School, an institution that combines classical education with a global orientation. There, the blend of tradition and technology that would later define his political path began to take shape.

At home, with a doctor father and a lawyer mother, he was not pressured to follow their professions. He was allowed to lose himself in Pixel and Computer for All magazines, which became his first world. He completed his studies in Computer Science at the Athens University of Economics and Business, then continued to Harvard and MIT — often saying that for Greece to change, it needs people who speak both the language of bits and the language of institutions.

In 2012, at the age of 29, he met Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who is now actively supporting his Eurogroup campaign. As Minister of Digital Governance, Pierrakakis became the face of Greece’s digital transformation. gov.gr was a cultural shift. The COVID-19 vaccination system became a structural test of whether the state could function with precision.

In 2023, he moved to the Ministry of Education, where he advanced the law on non-state universities — a landmark reform dismantling one of the deepest taboos of the post-1974 era, whose benefits will become clearer in the years to come. At the same time, he banned mobile phones in schools and introduced the Digital Tutoring platform, giving every student, regardless of income or geography, access to modern educational support.

A year and a half later, in March 2025, it was time for the Ministry of National Economy and Finance. For many, it was a leap. For him, it was continuity. He believes that digitization and economic stability are two sides of the same coin. In his new role, he is convinced that fiscal discipline, growth, and institutional confidence can coexist without excessive triumphalism or easy panic.

Behind all his public roles remains a man with stable roots. He lives in Acharnes, is married, and is the father of three children. In his office, among books on 21st-century politics, he keeps a few collectible cards from the covers of the magazines of his childhood.