John Pesmazoglou

John Pesmazoglou   (economist)
Born	1 March 1918
Died	27 November 2003 (Age 85)
Nationality	Greek
Alma mater	Athens Law School, St John's College (Cambridge)
Member of	Bilderberg/Steering committee
A Greek economist, member of the Bilderberg Steering committee who was repeatedly denied a passport by the Greek military government.  Member of the European Parliament In office July 1989 - July 1994  Member of the European Parliament In office January 1981 - July 1984  Greece/Minister/Finance  In office 24. Juli 1974 - 21. November 1974

Ioannis (Yangos) Pesmazoglou (anglicized as John Pesmazoglou) was a Greek economist. He was a member of the Bilderberg Steering Committee. He was invited to the 1969 Bilderberg, 1971 Bilderberg and 1972 Bilderberg, but did not attened them since the Greek authorities denied him a passport.

Education

Born into a prominent banking family on the island of Chios, Pesmazoglou studied at Athens University during the dictatorship of General Metaxas. After the second world war, he completed a second doctorate in economics at St John's College, Cambridge.

Career

On returning to Greece, he taught political economy at Athens University.

In 1958, he was appointed by the conservative prime minister Konstantinos Karamanlis to lead the team that negotiated the 1961 agreement with the EEC, which, in turn, prepared the way for Greece's accession to the European Community in 1981.

In 1965, Pesmazoglou became deputy governor of the Bank of Greece, but resigned in April 1967, after the military coup. From the outset, Pesmazoglou was a fearless critic of the military junta. He wrote articles criticising the colonels' profligate economic policies, gave interviews to foreign journalists and testified in court on behalf of those who had fallen foul of the junta.

He became president of the Society for the Study of Greek Problems (EMEP) to probe the limits of free discussion under martial law. In 1972, EMEP was closed down by the military authorities, and Pezmazoglou was exiled to the mountain village of Deskati. In 1973, he was arrested and held in isolation by the much-feared military police; the international attention attracted by his arrest helped to protect him from the torture that was routinely meted out to victims of the military police.

With the collapse of the junta in 1974, he took over the portfolio of the Ministry of Finance in the Government of national unity. He took part in the 1974 elections and was elected MP. During the next decades, he varied between the European Parliament and the national one.

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/1967	31 March 1967	2 April 1967	St John's College (Cambridge) UK England	Possibly the only Bilderberg meeting held in a university college rather than a hotel (St. John's College, Cambridge)
Bilderberg/1974	19 April 1974	21 April 1974	France Hotel Mont d' Arbois Megève	The 23rd Bilderberg, held in France

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