Panagiotis Pipinelis
 Panagiotis Pipinelis    (politician, diplomat) | ||||||||||
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| Born | Παναγιώτης Πιπινέλης 21 March 1899 | |||||||||
| Died | 19 July 1970 (Age 71) | |||||||||
Cause of death | cancer | |||||||||
| Nationality | Greek | |||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Zurich, University of Freiburg | |||||||||
| Interests | Marshall Plan | |||||||||
One of a dozen men whom Józef Retinger consulted when setting up the Bilderberg group. Maintained close relations with the royal family, the US and NATO, was one of the key players in the Marshall Plan talks. Described as one of the most ardent "Atlanticist" Greek politicians. Later appointed Greek PM.
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Panagiotis Pipinelis was a Greek diplomat and one of a dozen men whom Józef Retinger consulted when setting up the Bilderberg group.[1] Pipinelis maintained close relations with the royal family, the US and NATO, was one of the key players in the Marshall Plan talks, and was described as one of the most ardent "Atlanticist" Greek politicians.
From June to September 1963 he was Prime Minister of Greece in an appointed government, which was forced to resign due to political pressure from Georgios Papandreou, the caretaker government was an attempt to keep him out of power. After 21 April 1967 he collaborated with the dictatorship, which committed a coup to prevent Papandreou, becoming minister of foreign affairs from November 1967 until his death.
Contents
Background
Panagiotis Pipinelis was born on March 21, 1899 in Piraeus. Many of his family members had distinguished themselves in shipping and trade. His father, Nikolaos Pipinelis, was the owner of a large import and export trading house and his paternal house was located on the Moutsopoulou Coast, in a mansion where later the Maritime Museum of Greece was housed.
He studied law and political science at the Universities of Zurich in Switzerland and Freiburg in Germany.
Diplomatic career
In 1922 he entered the diplomatic corps, at the age of 23. He worked among others in Paris (1927-28), Tirana (1928-29) and in the permanent Greek delegation to the League of Nations (1931-32). In 1933 he became director of the diplomatic office of Foreign Minister Dimitrios Maximos, until 1935.
He then became ambassador in Budapest (1936-40) and then in Sofia (1940-41) until the German invasion of Greece where he returned to Athens following the Tsouderou government to Crete and from there in exile to Egypt and England. He was then posted for a few months to the Moscow embassy (1941-42) and then returned to London where he served in the supreme allied bodies. In 1945 he became director of the Political House of King George II.
From June 1947 to November 1948 he was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, and later as caretaker minister of Foreign Affairs in the Theotokis government in 1950. In 1952 he became permanent representative of Greece to NATO but a year later, in 1953, he resigned from the diplomatic corps.
Political career
After his resignation from the diplomatic corps in May 1953, he became involved in politics first with the right-wing Greek Rally and then with National Radical Union (ERE). In 1958 and 1961 he was a candidate for MP for Athens, but failed to be elected both times. Nevertheless, Konstantinos Karamanlis appointed him Minister of Commerce in November 1961, a position in which he remained until June 1963.
After Karamanlis resigned in June 1963, he received a mandate from King Paul and on 19 June he formed a government himself, obtaining a vote of confidence of the Parliament. On September 29, 1963, after intense pressure from George Papandreou to the King, Pipinelis was forced to resign and handed over to the caretaker government of Stylianos Mavromichalis.
In the 1963 and 1964 elections, he was elected member of Parliament for EPE. On 3 April 1967, Panagiotis Kanellopoulos appointed him Minister of coordination in his government, a position he retained for 18 days, due to the coup d'état on 21 April 1967.
On 20 November 1967, he was appointed Minister of foreign affairs in the first junta government of Konstantinos Kollias, a position he retained in the government of Georgios Papadopoulos until his death (19 July 1970) from cancer. The dictatorship's foreign policy was then taken over by its own leader, Georgios Papadopoulos.
Political positions
Panagiotis Pipinelis maintained close relations with the royal family, the US and NATO and was described as one of the most ardent "Atlanticist" Greek politicians.[3] After the liberation, in 1946, he pioneered the restoration of kingship in Greece with the return of King George II (after all, he also was director of the King's Political House).[4] he was one of the key players in the Marshall Plan talks, and frequently attended meetings of the Bilderberg Group.
After the departure of Konstantinos Karamanlis, within the EPE party six personalities began to play important roles. among them were Panagiotis Pipinelis and the president of the Parliament Konstantinos Rodopoulos who sought an "anti-parliamentary solution" of the political crisis[5] that had occurred in 1965, after the defection and resignation of George Papandreou. In particular, as early as 1964 Pipinelis believed that the eventual rise to power of Andreas Papandreou had to be prevented "at all costs".[6]
Events Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilderberg/1956 | 11 May 1956 | 13 May 1956 | Denmark Fredensborg | The 4th Bilderberg meeting, with 147 guests, in contrast to the generally smaller meetings of the 1950s. Has two Bilderberg meetings in the years before and after |
| Bilderberg/1957 October | 4 October 1957 | 6 October 1957 | Italy Fiuggi | The 6th Bilderberg meeting, the latest ever in the year and the first one in Italy. |
| Bilderberg/1958 | 13 September 1958 | 15 September 1958 | United Kingdom Buxton UK | The 7th Bilderberg and the first one in the UK. 72 guests |
| Bilderberg/1965 | 2 April 1965 | 4 April 1965 | Italy Villa d'Este | The 14th Bilderberg meeting, held in Italy |
References
- ↑ The Bilderberg Group, August 1956, Józef Retinger
- ↑ Evstathiou Diakopoulou, O Tektonismos stin Ellada (La Massoneria in Grecia), Ionios Philosophiki, Corfù, 2009, p. 297.
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20210617065143/https://www.tanea.gr/2009/05/09/greece/to-klamp-twn-elit-kai-oi-thewries-synwmosias/
- ↑ "ΕΡΕ" Ιστορικά (περιοδικό Ελευθεροτυπίας) τ.297 (4-8-2005), σελ.32.
- ↑ Για την κρίση της εποχής εκείνης δείτε Η. Ηλιού «Η Κρίση εξουσίας», Εκδ. Θεμέλιο Αθήνα 1966
- ↑ «Ε» Ιστορικά τεύχος 297, σελ.20
