George Alogoskoufis
 George Alogoskoufis     (economist) | ||||||||||||
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| Born | October 17, 1955 Athens, Greece | |||||||||||
| Nationality | Greece | |||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Athens, London School of Economics | |||||||||||
| Spouse | Dika Agapitidou | |||||||||||
| Party | New Democracy | |||||||||||
Greek economist and minister Minister of Economy and Finance from 2004 to 2009, where is accounting tricks to increase debt led to the 2010 Greece/Debt crisis. He attended all Bilderberg meetings from 2005 until 2009.
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Giorgos Alogoskoufis was Greek minister Minister of Economy and Finance from 2004 to 2009, where his accounting tricks made it possible to increase debt to unsustainable levels - possibly as part of a deliberate plan to trap the country - leading to the 2010 Greece debt crisis. He attended all Bilderberg meetings from 2005 until 2009.
Contents
Background and education
He was born in Athens on October 17, 1955. He grew up in the center of Athens, where he spent most of his life.
George Alogoskoufis is an economist with great activity both in Greece and abroad. He graduated with honors in 1977 from the Economics Department of the University of Athens and in 1981 he was given a PhD from the London School of Economics.
Academic career
In 1984 he became lecturer at the University of London. In 1990 he became professor at the Athens University of Economics and Business.[1]
He served as chairman of the Council of Economic Experts of the Ministry of national economy (1992-1993) as well as advisor to the European Commission and the World Bank.
Political career
In 2000, 2004 and 2007 he was elected member of Parliament a Athens for New Democracy. In March 2004 he became Minister of Economy and Finance, a position he retained until January 2009. In the October 2009 elections he failed to be re-elected and announced his return to university activity and the suspension of all party activity.
Fiddling the numbers
In 2006, the National Statistical Service of Greece proceeded with a revision of GDP, which resulted in a revision of critical fiscal figures. According to the National Statistical Service, the new measurement of GDP was required by European Commission which specifies the renewal of GDP data every five years, and had been requested by the EU since 2002, while Alogoskoufis also pointed to pressure from the European Statistical Office with a final deadline of September 2006. The revision, which was expected to lead to GDP growth of 25.7% since 2000, included surveys on trade, transport, hotels, construction, data from non-profit institutions and the 2001 census, and also included illegal economic activities.[2]
The revision of GDP was met with strong criticism from the opposition, who focused on its adverse effects, such as increasing the Greek contribution to the EU budget, while the Ministry of Finance projected positive effects such as strengthening Greece's credit rating and reducing the deficit.
The fiddling made it possible to increase the national debt massively.
According to data released by the Ministry of Finance during the tenure of George Alogoskoufis, Greece reduced the deficit to 2.6% of GDP, from 7.9% in 2004, while there were decreases in unemployment, high growth indicators and recovery of imports and investments.[3] However, this evidence proved to be false.[4][5][6] A Eurostat report in 2008 showed that the deficit has exceeded 4.8% of GDP, three times the forecast of the Ministry of Finance. The EU then began pressuring the government to take immediate steps to reduce the deficit, as the eurozone's demands on Greece predicted a deficit of less than 3%.[7] The last Eurostat report, concerning the policy of Giorgos Alogoskoufis, arrived in early 2010. The deficit in 2009 finally reached 13.6% of GDP, while there were reservations about the quality of the economic data reported by Greece in the five years between 2004-2009. At the same time, the term "Greek statistics" was first used by European media, mocking the authenticity of the data provided by Greece about its economic course.[8]
Giorgos Alogoskoufis was strongly accused of concealing the real deficit and of false data shortly before the defeat of New Democracy in the 2009 parliamentary elections. He has since fully supported the policy he followed, but no meaningful explanation was ever given by him for how Greece's deficit was driven to such high levels.[8] In early April 2011, he gave an interview to the Greek media and named prime minister Kostas Karamanlis as the main culprit of the 2010 financial disaster. In particular, he stated that the former prime minister did not want to proceed with the ratification of measures proposed by the Ministry of Finance.[9]
Mismanagement
In 2007 he was involved in a structured bonds scandal, where part of the reserves of some Greek supplementary pension funds were put in complex JP Morgan investment products.[10]
In March 2011 he was accused of involvement in the Siemens corruption scandal along with former ministers Akis Tsohatzopoulos, Vyron Polydoras and Prokopis Pavlopoulos. He immediately denied any involvement and defended his positions. At the same time, the committee of inquiry included him among the names of ministers involved in these scandals.[11] On 7 July 2011 he was included in the list of former ministers for whom the Government of C. Papandreou launched a preliminary investigation into the Siemens scandal. On 20 July 2011, following a vote in Parliament, it was decided not to refer him for prosecution.[12]
After politics
As of 2020, he is the chair of the Economics Department of Athens University of Economics and Business.
Events Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilderberg/2005 | 5 May 2005 | 8 May 2005 | Germany Rottach-Egern | The 53rd Bilderberg, 132 guests |
| Bilderberg/2006 | 8 June 2006 | 11 June 2006 | Canada Ottawa | 54th Bilderberg, held in Canada. 133 guests |
| Bilderberg/2007 | 31 May 2007 | 3 June 2007 | Turkey Istanbul | The 55th Bilderberg meeting, held in Turkey |
| Bilderberg/2008 | 5 June 2008 | 8 June 2008 | US Virginia Chantilly | The 56th Bilderberg, Chantilly, Virginia, 139 guests |
| Bilderberg/2009 | 14 May 2009 | 17 May 2009 | Greece Vouliagmeni | The 57th Bilderberg |
References
- ↑ https://alogoskoufisg.org/about/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20070929132018/http://www.statistics.gr/gr_tables/InterviewOikonimikiEpithewrisi.pdf
- ↑ http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/misc/94571.pdf
- ↑ http://www.tovima.gr/politics/article/?aid=316299
- ↑ http://news.in.gr/economy/article/?aid=742035
- ↑ https://www.kathimerini.gr/economy/local/334340/elleimma-pano-apo-3-toy-aep-paradechetai-tora-o-alogoskoyfis/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120212133840/http://news.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_economy_2_11/04/2009_310816
- ↑ a b http://www.tovima.gr/politics/article/?aid=316299
- ↑ https://www.protagon.gr/epikairotita/44341635550-44341635550
- ↑ http://www.imerisia.gr/article.asp?catid=15459&subid=2&pubid=73629150
- ↑ http://www.tovima.gr/politics/article/?aid=409811
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20160916045234/http://www.skai.gr/news/politics/article/175570/siemens-den-parapebodai-sto-gnomodotiko-alogoskoufis-markogiannakis-/
