Lucas Papademos
 Lucas Papademos    (central banker) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 11 October 1947 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Greek | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Athens College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Shanna Ingram | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of | Trilateral Commission | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Banker and economic hitman who on behalf of international finance implemented severe budget austerity in Greece to establish a debt trap.
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Lucas Demetrios Papademos is a Greek economist who was Prime Minister of Greece from November 2011 to May 2012, leading a provisional government in the wake of the Greek debt crisis, implementing the conditions of a debt spiral on behalf of international finance. He was previously Vice President of the European Central Bank from 2002 to 2010 and Governor of the Bank of Greece from 1994 to 2002.
Contents
Background
Papademos was born in Athens to parents who came from the town of Desfina in Phocis.[1] After graduating from Athens College in 1966, Papademos was accepted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he gained a bachelor's degree in physics in 1970, a master's degree in electrical engineering in 1972, and a doctorate in economics in 1978.
Career as an economist
In 1975, he worked with Franco Modigliani as an economic hitman on the neoliberal NAIRU concept, a theoretical framework for justifying high unemployment[2] He engaged in a career in academia, teaching economics at Columbia University from 1975 until 1984, before moving to the University of Athens in 1988.[3]
His work as an economist began in 1980, when he was appointed senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. He joined the Bank of Greece in 1985 as its chief economist, rising to the rank of deputy governor in 1993, and finally governor in 1994. During his time as governor of the central bank, Papademos was involved in Greece's transition from the drachma to the euro as its national currency.
After leaving the Bank of Greece in 2002, Papademos became the vice president to Wim Duisenberg, and then Jean-Claude Trichet, at the European Central Bank from 2002 to 2010. In 2010 he served as an economic advisor to Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou.[4] He was previously a member of the non-governmental group Trilateral Commission.[5][6]
Prime Minister of Greece
Papademos was first proposed[By whom?] as a potential caretaker prime minister of Greece in early November 2011, after Prime Minister George Papandreou offered to resign and allow a provisional coalition government to deal with the major political turmoil caused by the country's debt crisis.[7][8]
Papademos stated that his government's primary task would be to facilitate the financial bailout from the European Union – which was provided on the condition that severe budget austerity be implemented – and to lead the country until elections could be held. Papademos also stated that his sole priority as prime minister would be to try to keep Greece within the Eurozone.[9]
In January 2012, Papademos warned that workers would have to accept substantial cuts in their income in order for a default to be avoided. He also told business and union leaders that the "troika" — the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the ECB — was looking for Greece to take steps to open up so-called closed professions, as well as adjustments to the minimum wage, abolition of Christmas and summer vacation bonuses and automatic wage increases.[10] Papademos also declared in January that his provisional government would last until at least April, instead of February as was originally planned, so that further austerity measures could be implemented before an election.[11]
Assassination attempt
In Athens on 25 May 2017, a suspected letter bomb exploded within his car, causing non-life-threatening arm, leg and stomach injuries to Papademos. His driver sustained leg injuries in the attack and another passenger, a banking official, was also injured.[12]
References
- ↑ "Ta Nea" news-paper, online edition, 7 Nov. 2011, in Greek language.
- ↑ https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/1975/01/1975a_bpea_modigliani_papdemos.pdf
- ↑ http://www.hks.harvard.edu/about/faculty-staff-directory/lucas-papademos
- ↑ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8867331/Lucas-Papademos-profile.html
- ↑ Trilateral Commission Website, European Group Members
- ↑ Trilateral Commission Website, European Group Members-Update December 2011
- ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15671354
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/nov/10/lucas-papademos-greece-interim-coalition
- ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15691697
- ↑ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-04/papademos-warns-fellow-greeks-economic-collapse-looms-without-sacrifice.html
- ↑ http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/2011/december/greek-elections-delayed-until-april/73071.aspx
- ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40052213
