Editing Costas Simitis (section)

{{Short description|Prime Minister of Greece from 1996 to 2004}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{refimprove|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Costas Simitis
| native_name         = {{nobold|{{Lang|el|Κώστας Σημίτης}}}}
| image               = Costas Simitis 2003.jpg
| caption             = Simitis in 2003
| office              = [[Prime Minister of Greece]]
| president           = [[Konstantinos Stephanopoulos|Kostis Stephanopoulos]]
| term_start          = 22 January 1996
| term_end            = 10 March 2004
| predecessor         = [[Andreas Papandreou]]
| successor           = [[Kostas Karamanlis]]
| office1             = President of the [[Panhellenic Socialist Movement]]
| term_start1         = 30 June 1996
| term_end1           = 8 February 2004
| predecessor1        = [[Andreas Papandreou]]
| successor1          = [[George Papandreou]]

{{Collapsed infobox section begin|last=yes|Ministerial offices
|titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes
 
|office2        = [[Ministry for Trade (Greece)|Minister of Industry, Energy, Research and Technology]]
|primeminister2 = [[Andreas Papandreou]]
|term_start2    = 13 October 1993
|term_end2      = 15 September 1995
|predecessor2   = [[Vasileios Kontogiannopoulos]]
|successor2     = [[Anastasios Peponis]]

|office3        = [[Ministry of Development (Greece)|Minister of Trade]]
|primeminister3 = [[Andreas Papandreou]]
|term_start3    = 13 October 1993
|term_end3      = 15 September 1995
|predecessor3   = [[Vasileios Kontogiannopoulos]]
|successor3     = [[Nikolaos Akritidis]]

|office4        = [[Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs|Minister of National Education and Religious Affairs]]
|primeminister4 = [[Xenophon Zolotas]]
|term_start4    = 23 November 1989
|term_end4      = 13 February 1990
|predecessor4   = [[Konstantinos Despotopoulos]]
|successor4     = [[Konstantinos Despotopoulos]]

|office5        = [[Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism (Greece)|Minister of National Economy]]
|primeminister5 = [[Andreas Papandreou]]
|term_start5    = 26 July 1985
|term_end5      = 27 November 1987
|predecessor5   = [[Gerasimos Arsenis]]
|successor5     = [[Panagiotis Roumeliotis]]

|office6        = [[Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food (Greece)|Minister of Agriculture]]
|primeminister6 = [[Andreas Papandreou]]
|term_start6    = 21 October 1981
|term_end6      = 26 July 1985
|predecessor6   = [[Athanasios Kanellopoulos]]
|successor6     = Ioannis Pottakis

{{collapsed infobox section end}}
}}
| office7             = Member of the [[Hellenic Parliament]]
| constituency7       = [[Piraeus A]]
| term_start7         = 2 June 1985
| term_end7           = 7 September 2009
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1936|06|23|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Piraeus]], [[Kingdom of Greece|Greece]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2025|01|05|1936|06|23|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Corinth]], Greece
| party               = [[Panhellenic Socialist Movement]]
| otherparty          = [[PASOK – Movement for Change]]
| spouse              = {{marriage|Daphne Arkadiou|1964}}
| children            = Fiona<br />Marilena
| resting_place = [[First Cemetery of Athens]]
| alma_mater          = [[University of Marburg]]<br />[[London School of Economics]]
| website             = {{url|costas-simitis.gr|Official website}}
| relations           = [[Spiros Simitis]] (brother)
}}

'''Konstantinos G. Simitis''' ({{langx|el|Κωνσταντίνος Γ. Σημίτης}}; 23 June 1936 – 5 January 2025) was a Greek politician who led the 'Modernization' movement of Greece {{citation needed|date=January 2025}}. He succeeded in leadership [[Andreas Papandreou]], the founder of the [[Panhellenic Socialist Movement]] (PASOK), and served as [[Prime Minister of Greece]] from 1996 to 2004.

Simitis was a founding member of PASOK, and he gained significant ministerial experience in Papandreou's governments. Simitis' reputation was marked when he became [[Ministry of National Economy and Finance (Greece)|Minister of National Economy]] in 1985 when PASOK's profligacy needed a new financial '[[Andreas_Papandreou#Failed_stabilization_of_the_economy|stability]]' imposed through an economic adjustment programme. With stability achieved and the party's popularity waning, Papandreou distanced himself from Simitis' policies, and Simitis resigned. 

In 1996, Simitis won the leadership of PASOK after Papandreou's failing health. However, the leadership transition from Papandreou to Simitis was confrontational by loyalists of the former Prime Minister, who wanted to prevent such a transition from being realized. Simitis lacked his predecessor's charisma, and the fractured party's support limited many of his actions in government. However, by the end of his tenure in 2004, Simitis had several significant achievements and reforms in the wider society and economy to proclaim. After two decades of the exuberant rhetoric of Simitis’ predecessors and financial stagnation,<ref>{{cite news|title = Simitis victory allows him to chart his own course| url=https://www.politico.eu/article/simitis-victory-allows-him-to-chart-his-own-course/}}</ref> the [[Economy of Greece|Greek economy]] was put in order and became one of the fastest-growing economies in Europe,<ref>{{cite book| last = Gallant |first = Thomas W. |title= Modern Greece From the War of Independence to the Present | publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing |date=2016| pages = 306 |isbn =9781472567581 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ubfMDAAAQBAJ }}</ref> with an average annual increase of 4.1% of [[gross domestic product]] (GDP). The performance of the Greek economy under Simitis sealed the Greek entry into the [[Euro]] currency, closing the journey of aligning Greece with the West, which started with [[Eleftherios Venizelos]] and continued with [[Constantine Karamanlis]]. Simitis also succeeded in the [[Cyprus in the European Union|Cypriot accession into the EU]], a diplomatic priority for Greece. The successful completion of the Athens [[2004 Summer Olympics]] also boosted Greece's positive image as a modern state capable of undertaking sophisticated tasks. Moreover, a variety of large-scale infrastructure projects were completed, like the new [[Eleftherios Venizelos airport]], the [[Attiki Odos|Athens Ring road]], [[Athens Metro]], and [[Rio–Antirrio Bridge]]. New institutions were also introduced, such as the Greek [[Ombudsman]] and several regulatory bodies to supervise market liberalization.<ref name="Featherstone_p139">{{Cite book |last1=Featherstone |first1=Kevin |last2=Papadimitriou| first2= Dimitris|title=Prime Ministers in Greece, The Paradox of Power |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=139–140 |language=en|url =https://www.google.com/books/edition/Prime_Ministers_in_Greece/ghOCCQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0}}</ref>

After the [[Greek government-debt crisis|debt crisis erupted in Greece in 2009]], the legacy of Simitis was re-interpreted by critics as insufficient or misleading. However, government institutions under Simitis were developed and strengthened in their capacity to reform, appearing both more 'modern' and 'European.'<ref name="Featherstone_p139"/>