Alexis Tsipras

Alexis Tsipras Αλέξης Τσίπρας MP
Prime Minister of Greece
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 January 2015
President	Karolos Papoulias Prokopis Pavlopoulos
Deputy	Yannis Dragasakis
Preceded by	Antonis Samaras
Leader of the Opposition
In office 20 June 2012 – 26 January 2015
Prime Minister	Antonis Samaras
Preceded by	Antonis Samaras
Leader of Syriza
Incumbent
Assumed office 4 October 2009
Preceded by	Alekos Alavanos
Personal details
Born	(1974-07-28)July 28, 1974 Athens, Greece
Political party	Syriza
Domestic partner	Peristera Batziana
Children	2
Alma mater	National Technical University
Religion	None[1]

Alexis Tsipras (Greek: Αλέξης Τσίπρας, born 28 July 1974)^[2] is a Greek politician who has been the Prime Minister of Greece since 26 January 2015 and leader of Syriza since 2009.^[3][4] He was first elected to the Greek Parliament in 2009, and was the Party of the European Left nominee for President of the European Commission in the 2014 European Parliament election. On 25 January 2015, Tsipras led SYRIZA to victory in a snap general election, receiving 36% of the vote and 149 out of the 300 seats in the Parliament and went on to become the 186th Prime Minister of Greece. In 2015 he was voted by TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential people globally.^[5]

Early life and career

Tsipras was born in Athens. His family has its roots in a village near Babaeski in Eastern Thrace (European Turkey), which moved to Greece during the population exchange between Greece and Turkey.^[6] His father was born in Epirus.^[7][8] His mother was born in Eleftheroupoli.^[9]

He joined the Communist Youth of Greece in the late 1980s. In the early 1990s, as a student of Ampelokipoi Multi-disciplinary High School, he was politically active in the student uprising against the controversial law of Education Minister Vasilis Kontogiannopoulos. He rose to prominence as a representative of the student movement when he was featured as a guest on a television show hosted by journalist Anna Panagiotarea. During the interview, Panagiotarea implied that Tsipras was being disingenuous in defending middle and high school students' right to absenteeism without parental notification in the context of protests.^[10]

He studied civil engineering at the National Technical University of Athens, graduating in 2000, before undertaking postgraduate studies in Urban and Regional Planning following an inter-departmental MPhil at the School of Architecture of NTUA. Alongside his postgraduate studies, he began working as a civil engineer in the construction industry. He wrote several studies and projects on the theme of the city of Athens.^[10][11][12]

As a university student, he joined the ranks of the renascent left-wing movement, particularly the "Enceladus" (Greek: Εγκέλαδος) group, and as member of it was elected to the executive board of the students' union of the Civil Engineering School of NTUA, and also served as student representative on the University Senate. From 1995 to 1997 he was an elected member of the Central Council of the National Students Union of Greece (EFEE).^[10]

Political career

After the departure of the Communist Party of Greece from Synaspismos, Tsipras remained in the coalition. In May 1999 he became the first political secretary of Synaspismos' youth-wing, the Synaspismos Youth. During this period he was described as a centrist, other than the very clear radical, left-wing profile he would later maintain as Leader of Synaspismos. In November 2003 he was succeeded by Tasos Koronakis and moved on to the mother party. He managed quite efficiently to maintain a strong adherence to the policy of the party, effectively outvoicing political deviants to the left and the right. As Secretary of Synaspismos Youth, he took an active part in the process of creating the Greek Social Forum and attended all of the international protests and marches against neoliberal globalization. In December 2004, at the 4th Congress of Synaspismos, he was elected a member of the party's Central Political Committee and consequently to the Political Secretariat, where he was responsible for educational and youth issues.^[10]

Tsipras first entered the limelight of mainstream Greek politics during the 2006 local election when he ran for the municipality of Athens under the "Anoihti Poli" (Greek: Ανοιχτή Πόλη, "Open City") SYRIZA ticket that gained 10.51% of the Athenian vote.^[10][13] He did not run for the Greek Parliament in the 2007 election, choosing to continue to complete his term as a member of the municipal council of Athens.

Alexis Tsipras giving his speech as a presidential candidate at the 5th Congress of Synaspismos.

He was elected Leader of Synaspismos during the 5th Congress on 10 February 2008, after previous Leader Alekos Alavanos decided not to stand again due to personal reasons.^[14] Tsipras became Leader of Synaspismos at the age of 33, thus becoming the youngest ever leader of a Greek political party (after Nikos Zakhariadis, who became leader of Greek Communist Party in 1931 at the age of 28).. In the 2009 election, he was elected to the Greek Parliament for Athens A and was subsequently voted unanimously to be the head of the SYRIZA parliamentary group.^[3][4] Tsipras led SYRIZA through the 2012 elections, overseeing a swing of over 22% to the party, and becoming the Leader of the Opposition.

Tsipras in Bologna holding a speech for The Other Europe allied party.

In December 2013 he was the first candidate proposed for the position of President of the Commission of the European Union by the Nordic Greens/European Left. The vote will be a EU member states election to the European Parliament in May 2014.

Tsipras was campaigning as the only candidate of the south periphery countries. At the beginning of May 2014, in a speech in Berlin, he clarified many of his positions, in opposition to the allegedly Merkel-dominated neo-liberal political course in Europe. Tsipras declared a substantial change for a better future for all Europeans is visible within 10 years. He addressed those who lost out in the fallout of the financial crises from 2008 to 2014, which produced unexpectedly high jobless rates in most of the EU. The speech was given in English to a German audience and probably intended to be listened to throughout Europe.^[15]

Prime Minister of Greece

Alexis Tsipras laying down red roses at the Kaisariani Memorial.

Alexis Tsipras speaking on Subversive Festival 2013 in Zagreb

Tsipras led Syriza to victory in the general election held on 25 January 2015, falling short of an outright majority in Parliament by just two seats. The following morning, Tsipras reached an agreement with the right-wing populist Independent Greeks party to form a coalition.

On the same day he was sworn in by incumbent President Karolos Papoulias as the youngest Prime Minister in Greek history since 1865. Using the words "I declare in my name, honour and conscience to uphold the Constitution and its laws."^[16] Tsipras was also the first prime minister to take a civil rather than a religious oath of office, marking a rupture with Greek orthodox ceremonial culture.^[17] While reaffirming the good relations between his party and the Church, he generated further religious controversy by explaining to Archbishop Ieronymos in a meeting, that as an atheist who didn't marry in a religious ceremony nor baptised his children, he could not take a religious oath of office.^[18]

The first act after being sworn in, Tsipras visited the Resistance Memorial in Kaisariani, laying down red roses to commemorate the 200 members of the Greek Resistance executed by the German Wehrmacht on 1 May 1944.^[19]

During the first meeting of the new cabinet, Tsipras declared the priorities of his government to be the fight against the "humanitarian crisis" in Greece, negotiations with the EU and the International Monetary Fund on restructuring the Greek debt, and the implementation of promises made by SYRIZA such as the abolition of the previous government's privatization policies.^[20]

On 3 February 2015, Tsipras made his first official trip, meeting Italy's Premier Matteo Renzi in Rome. They held a joint press conference expressing concerns about austerity measures imposed by the European Commission and stated that economic growth is the only way to exit from the crisis. After the press conference, Renzi presented Tsipras with an Italian tie as a gift. Tsipras, who was notable for refusing to ever wear a tie, thanked Renzi and said that he would wear the gift in celebration when Greece had successfully renegotiated the austerity measures.^[21]

On 20 February, the Eurogroup came to an agreement with Greece to extend the Greek bailout for four months.^[22] Tsipras has also announced a trip to Moscow in April 8, in a bid to secure Russian support.^[23]

Personal life

Tsipras is not married. His registered partner is Peristera Batziana, an electrical and computer engineer. The two met in 1987, when 13, at the Ampelokipoi Branch High School. Both eventually became members of the Communist Youth of Greece. They live together in Athens with their two sons.^[24] Their youngest son's middle name is Ernesto, a tribute to Che Guevara. Tsipras is an avid football fan and, having grown up near the stadium, supports Panathinaikos, attending every home game that he can.^[8] Tsipras is a self-described atheist,^[25][26] making him (as of 2015) among the four publicly recognized atheist heads of government and state in the European Union, along with François Hollande, Miloš Zeman, and Zoran Milanović.^[27]

See also

• Politics of Greece

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexis Tsipras.

• Homepage of Alexis Tsipras, 2014 candidature for European Commission President
• Curriculum Vitae Synaspismos website
• Ανοιχτή Πόλη
• Terms of office of Alexis Tsipras at the Hellenic Parliament (English)

Current Cabinet of Greece Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras Deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragasakis Ministers Foreign Affairs: Nikos Kotzias Finance: Yanis Varoufakis National Defence: Panos Kammenos Interior and Administrative Reconstruction: Nikos Voutsis Economy, Infrastructure, Shipping and Tourism: Giorgos Stathakis Culture, Education and Religious Affairs: Aristides Baltas Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy: Panagiotis Lafazanis Health and Social Security: Panagiotis Kouroumplis Labour and Social Solidarity: Panos Skourletis Justice: Nikos Paraskevopoulos State: Nikos Pappas; Panagiotis Nikoloudis (Combating Corruption); Alekos Flambouraris (Governmental Coordination) Alternate Ministers Administrative Reform: George Katrougalos Public Order and Citizens Protection: Giannis Panousis Immigration Policy: Tasia Christodoulopoulou Infrastructure, Transport and Networks: Christos Spirtzis Shipping and the Aegean: Theodoros Dritsas Tourism: Elena Kountoura Environment: Giannis Tsironis Agricultural Development: Evangelos Apostolou Finance: Nadia Valavani; Dimitris Mardas Culture: Nikos Xydakis Education: Tasos Kourakis Research and Innovation: Kostas Fotakis Health: Andreas Xanthos Social Security: Dimitris Stratoulis Social Solidarity: Theano Fotiou Combating Unemployment: Rania Antonopoulos European Affairs: Nikos Hountis International Economic Relations: Euclid Tsakalotos National Defence: Kostas Isyhos Deputy Ministers Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister and Government Spokesperson: Gabriel Sakellaridis Macedonia and Thrace: Maria Kollia-Tsaroucha Agricultural Development: Panagiotis Sgouridis Sports: Stavros Kontonis National Defence: Nikos Toskas State: Terence Quick (Governmental Coordination)