Editing Antonis Samaras (section)

{{short description|Prime Minister of Greece (2012–2015)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
<!-- DO NOT ADD HONORIFICS OR NUMBERS OF SUCCESSION; THEY ARE NOT USED IN GREECE -->| name                = Antonis Samaras
| native_name         = {{nobold|{{lang|el|Αντώνης  Σαμαράς}}}}
| image               = Antonis Samaras October 2014.jpg
| caption             = Samaras in 2014
| order               = [[Prime Minister of Greece]]
| president           = [[Karolos Papoulias]]
| deputy              = [[Evangelos Venizelos]]{{efn|Venizelos was [[Deputy Prime Minister of Greece|Deputy Prime Minister]] from 2013 to 2015.}}
| term_start          = 20 June 2012
| term_end            = 26 January 2015
| predecessor         = [[Panagiotis Pikrammenos]] (caretaker)
| successor           = [[Alexis Tsipras]]
| office1             = [[Leader of the Opposition (Greece)|Leader of the Opposition]]
| primeminister1      = [[Alexis Tsipras]]
| term_start1         = 26 January 2015
| term_end1           = 5 July 2015
| predecessor1        = Alexis Tsipras
| successor1          = [[Vangelis Meimarakis]]
| primeminister2      = [[George Papandreou]]<br />[[Lucas Papademos]]<br />[[Panagiotis Pikrammenos]]
| term_start2         = 30 November 2009
| term_end2           = 20 June 2012
| predecessor2        = [[Kostas Karamanlis]]
| successor2          = [[Alexis Tsipras]]

{{Collapsed infobox section begin |last=yes |Other political offices 
 |titlestyle=border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes

| office3             = President of [[New Democracy (Greece)|New Democracy]]
| deputy3             = [[Stavros Dimas]]<br />[[Dimitris Avramopoulos]]
| term_start3         = 30 November 2009
| term_end3           = 5 July 2015
| predecessor3        = [[Kostas Karamanlis]]
| successor3          = [[Vangelis Meimarakis]]
| office4             = [[Ministry of Culture and Sports (Greece)|Minister of Culture]]
| primeminister4      = [[Kostas Karamanlis]]
| term_start4         = 8 January 2009
| term_end4           = 6 October 2009
| predecessor4        = [[Michalis Liapis]]
| successor4          = [[Pavlos Geroulanos]] (Culture and Tourism)
| office5             = [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Greece)|Minister for Foreign Affairs]]
| primeminister5      = [[Konstantinos Mitsotakis]]
| term_start5         = 11 April 1990
| term_end5           = 13 April 1992
| predecessor5        = [[Georgios Papoulias]]
| successor5          = Konstantinos Mitsotakis
| primeminister6      = [[Xenophon Zolotas]]
| term_start6         = 23 November 1989
| term_end6           = 16 February 1990
| predecessor6        = [[Georgios Papoulias]]
| successor6          = Georgios Papoulias
| office7             = [[Ministry of Finance (Greece)|Minister of Finance]]
| primeminister7      = [[Tzannis Tzannetakis]]
| term_start7         = 2 July 1989
| term_end7           = 12 October 1989
| predecessor7        = [[Dimitris Tsovolas]]
| successor7          = Georgios Agapitos
| office8             = Member of the [[Hellenic Parliament]]
| term_start8         = 16 September 2007
| term_end8           = 
| constituency8       = [[Messenia (constituency)|Messenia]]
| term_start9         = 20 November 1977
| term_end9           = 24 August 1996
| constituency9       = [[Messenia (constituency)|Messenia]]
| office10            = [[Member of the European Parliament]]
| term_start10        = 20 July 2004
| term_end10          = 25 September 2007
| constituency10      = [[Greece (European Parliament constituency)|Greece]]

{{Collapsed infobox section end}}}}

| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1951|5|23|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Athens]], [[Greece]]
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| party               = [[New Democracy (Greece)|New Democracy]] {{small|(1977–1992, 2004–2024)}}<br />[[Political Spring]] {{small|(1993–2004)}}<br />[[Independent politician|Independent]] {{small|(2024-present)}}
| spouse              = {{marriage|Georgia Kretikos|1990}}
| relatives           = [[Emmanouil Benakis]] (great-great-grandfather)<br />[[Penelope Delta]] (great-grandmother)
| children            = 2
| education           = [[Amherst College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br />[[Harvard University]] ([[Master of Business Administration|MBA]])
| parents             = 
}}
{{Antonis Samaras sidebar}}
'''Antonis Samaras''' ({{langx|el|Αντώνης Σαμαράς}}, {{IPA|el|anˈdonis samaˈɾas|pron}}; born 23 May 1951) is a Greek politician who served as [[Prime Minister of Greece]] from 2012 to 2015. A member of the [[New Democracy (Greece)|New Democracy]] party, he was its president from 2009 until 2015. Samaras started his national political career as [[Ministry of Finance (Greece)|Minister of Finance]] in 1989; he served as [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Greece)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]] from 1989 to 1992 (with a brief interruption in 1990) and [[Ministry of Culture and Sports (Greece)|Minister of Culture]] in 2009.

Samaras was previously best known for a 1993 controversy in which he effectively caused the New Democracy government, of which he was a member, to fall from power {{attribution needed|date=November 2024}}.  In spite of this, he rejoined the party in 2004 and was elected to its leadership in a closely fought intra-party election in late 2009.<ref>{{cite news|title=ND heads for tense election showdown |publisher=[[Kathimerini]] |url=http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100006_28/11/2009_112865 |date=30 November 2009 |access-date=30 November 2009 |archive-date=2 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091202080529/http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100006_28/11/2009_112865 |url-status=live}}</ref> He was the seventh party leader since it was founded in 1974.

In the years that followed, he remained a member of parliament representing the region of [[Messenia]], until November 2024 when he was again expelled from the party's parliamentary group and from New Democracy, due to his criticism of the foreign policy of the [[Second Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis|government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis]].<ref>[https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/former-pm-ousted-from-greek-ruling-party-202710 Former PM ousted from Greek ruling party]</ref>