GREECE: 200 YEARS OF ECONOMIC SURVIVAL
Marietta Andronikou
On the occasion of the Greek Revolution of 1821 bicentennial, it is worth carefully examining both the achievements of Greece during these past 200 years, but also the challenges and difficulties that the country has encountered during the course of its history. This year Greece is celebrating the Revolution, but at the same time it
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Joan is the director for The Economist's flagship annual Democracy Index, recognised by governments, international organisations, corporates and academia as a leading measure of global democracy. She is an expert on European political economy, with a special interest in democracy, governance, political risk and east European post-communist transition, and a writer on international affairs.

Joan is a former regional director for Europe at the Economist Intelligence Unit, leading a team of analysts covering 50 countries in Europe and central Asia, and now works as a consultant for the Economist Group. Joan joined EIU in 1995, working as a senior analyst for Eastern Europe before becoming regional manager and then director for Europe.

She began her career as a journalist covering UK and Irish affairs, before developing her interest and expertise in Eastern Europe over several decades from the late 1980s. She covered the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the wars in the former Yugoslavia, before pursuing her career in country analysis and forecasting. Joan studied British, American and European History at Sussex University. She pursued postgraduate studies in Industrial Relations, and having grown up in a mill town in Lancashire, focused her research on the first major immigrant strike in Britain, by Asian and West Indian workers at Courtaulds’ Red Scar Mills factory in Preston in 1965.

Joan is often invited to share her perspectives on Europe with senior corporate executives, academics and diplomatic officials. She is an accomplished chairperson. She has chaired more than 50 Economist events, including prime ministers, presidents and senior government ministers and business leaders. She is an experienced public speaker, and has spoken at many international forums, and is a frequent commentator on European affairs.

Christos Staikouras was born in Lamia, Fthiotida, in 1973. He was elected MP in Fthiotida with Nea Demokratia political party on the election of 2007, 2009, 2012 (May and June), 2015 (January and September) and July 2019.

From October 2009 until June 2012 he was deputy head of the Economic Policy Sector of Nea Demokratia. From June 2012 he was appointed as alternate minister of finance, and held his position until the election of January 2015. From February 2015 until June 2019 he was the head of ND Economic Policy Sector.

From July 2019 he was appointed as minister of finance.

Christos Staikouras holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the Management School, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of London, and a Doctor’s degree (PhD in Banking) from the Department of Banking and Finance, Cass Business School, City University. He is associate professor in Finance at the Athens University of Economics and Business. He was part time academic staff at the Hellenic Open University (2004-07), assistant at the Athens University of Economics and Business (2006 - 19), visiting professor at the Universities of Thessaly, Athens, City and European University Cyprus.

He has worked at the Central Bank of England and the Eurobank Group.

He has published over 50 research papers in international refereed scientific journals, books and monographs and he has also participated in many scientific international conferences.

Christos Staikouras is member of scientific and research societies and organizations.

Yanni Kotsonis has been professor of history and of Russian and Slavic Studies at the University of New York since 1994. He has also served as chair at the dept. of Russian and Slavic Studies (2008-11) and as a founding director, at the Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia at the same University (2012-16). Furthermore he has served as a lecturer in comparative history at the University of Essex, England (1992-94).

Recent prizes, fellowships and grants include: American Academy in Berlin, Berlin Prize (2021), Fulbright Scholar, Athens, Athens School of Fine Arts (2021), École Française d’Athènes, visiting scholar (2020), Braudel Fellow, European University Institute, Florence (2020), Visiting Professor, École des Haute Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris (March 2017)

Publications include: La Révolution Grecque/The Greek Revolution/I Elliniki Epanastasi, book in three languages (Athens: Épitomé/École Française d’Athènes, 2021), I Ellinke Epanastase kai oi Autokratories: I Gallia kai oi Ellines, 1797-1830 [The Greek Revolution and the Empires: France the Greeks, 1797-1830] (Athens: Alexandria Press, 2020), States of Obligation: Citizenship and Taxation in Imperial and Early Soviet Russia (Toronto: Univeristy of Toronto Press, 2014) and Kak krest’ian delali otstalimi (Moscow: Novoe Russkoe Obozrenie, 2006). He has also contributed numerous articles in publications such as the Slavic Review, the Journal of Modern History, the Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique moderne et contemporain and Istoricheskie zapiski.

Yanni Kotsonis obtained, among others, a BA in History from Concordia University, Montréal (1980-85), an MA from the University of London, School of Slavonic and East European Studies (1985-86) and a PhD from Columbia University on Russian and Soviet history (1986-94).

Stathis N. Kalyvas is Gladstone Professor of Government and fellow of All Souls College at Oxford. Until 2018 he was Arnold Wolfers Professor of Political Science at Yale University, where he founded and directed the Program on Order, Conflict, and Violence and co-directed the Hellenic Studies Program. In 2019 he founded and directs the T. E. Lawrence Program on Conflict and Violence at All Souls College.

Kalyvas obtained his BA from the University of Athens (1986) and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (1993), all in political science. He taught at Ohio State University (1993-94), New York University (1994-2000), the University of Chicago (2000-03), Yale University (2003-2017), before joining Oxford in 2018. He has held visiting professorships and fellowships at Sciences Po-Paris, Oxford, the University of São Paulo, Lingnan University of Hong Kong, Northwestern University, Columbia University, the University of Witten/Herdecke, the Juan March Institute, the Max Planck Institute, and the European University Institute.

He is the author of The Rise of Christian Democracy in Europe (Cornell University Press, 1996), The Logic of Violence in Civil War (Cambridge University Press, 2006), Modern Greece: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press, 2015), the co-editor of Order, Conflict, and Violence (Cambridge University Press, 2008) and the Oxford Handbook on Terrorism (Oxford University Press, 2019), and the author of over fifty scholarly articles in five languages, as well as several books and edited volumes in Greek. His current research focuses on global trends in political violence and conflict. He has an additional interest in the history and politics of Greece, where he is a regular columnist for Kathimerini.

His work has received multiple awards, including the Woodrow Wilson Award for best book on government, politics, or international affairs, the Luebbert Award for best book in comparative politics, the European Academy of Sociology Book Award, the Luebbert Award for the best article in comparative politics (three times), and the Greenstone Award for best book in politics and history. His research has been supported by the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, the United States Peace Institute, the Folke Bernadotte Academy, the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ECRC), and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. He was a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow in 2007. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2008 and the British Academy since 2020.

Professor Kevin Featherstone is Eleftherios Venizelos professor of contemporary Greek studies and professor of European politics at the London School of Economics, and Director of the Hellenic Observatory in its European Institute. He has been a regular contributor to Kathimerini. He is co-director of the LSE Programme on ‘BREXIT and Beyond’.

He is a political scientist and his research has covered both the European Union and contemporary Greece. His recent books include: The Limits of Europeanization: Reform Capacity and Policy Conflict in Greece (with D. Papadimitriou) (2008); Prime Ministers in Greece: the Paradox of Power (2015) (with D. Papadimitriou); and The Oxford Handbook of Modern Greek Politics (editor, with D. Sotiropoulos; 2020). In 2014, he was awarded the ‘Order of the Phoenix’ by the President of the Hellenic Republic.

Theodoros Skylakakis was born in 1959 in Athens. He is an economist. Member of Parliament for New Democracy (2022-23). Minister of environment and energy from June 2023. Alternate minister of finance, responsible for Fiscal Policy and responsible for preparing and coordinating the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan "Greece 2.0" (2020-23). Deputy minister of Fiscal Policy (2019-20), member of the European Parliament (2009-14), secretary-general for International Economic Relations and Development Cooperation (2006-09), municipal councilor, deputy mayor and deputy mayor of Athens (2003-06), responsible for preparing for the 2004 Olympic Games. From 1990 to 1993 he served as advisor to prime minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis and head of the prime minister's Planning and Communication Office.

Mr Skylakakis also served as president and director-general of the E21 Research Centre (1994-2001). He was the last president of Drasi (2014-19), which suspended its activity to support New Democracy.

He has worked in advertising and communication since 1985 and he has founded four companies in the fields of communication (1994-99), crisis management (2000-06) and agricultural production & processing (2014-19).

He studied economics in Greece (University of Athens) and business administration (MBA) in England (City University, London) and received a master's degree from the British Market Research Society in Market Research. He has received a PhD from the Department of History and Philosophy of Science of the University of Athens, entitled: "Social tolerance to corruption".

He is married to Eleni Papapanou, has two daughters, Marianna and Irene and four granddaughters.

Rolf Strauch is Chief Economist and Management Board Member in charge of Economic and Market Analysis, Economic Risk Analysis and Financial Sector and Market Analysis of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), which he joined in July 2010. He is responsible for economic and financial analysis and policies and the country monitoring work that the ESM and EFSF undertake. He represents the ESM and EFSF in European fora and negotiates with Member States.

Prior to this, Mr Strauch worked at the European Central Bank from 2000–2010 in the Directorate General Economics on fiscal, monetary, and structural policies. He also served previously as an economist at the Deutsche Bundesbank and as a researcher at both the University of Mannheim and the University of Bonn.

Mr Strauch holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Bonn. He is a fellow at the Center for European Integration Studies (ZEI) in Bonn. He is the author of numerous articles and economic publications.

Colin Ellis is Moody’s first global credit strategist, and a managing director in the Credit Strategy team.

In his current role, Colin provides thought leadership for the rating agency that deepens the understanding of ratings and debt capital markets through rigorous and quantitative research. He leads Moody’s teams working on default and ratings analytics and on global financial analysis, including bank projections and stress testing. Colin is also a member of Moody’s Macroeconomic Board, which sets the global forecasts that underpin Moody’s universe of ratings.

Colin joined Moody’s in February 2012, leading the work of the Macroeconomic Board and authoring the quarterly Global Macro Outlook. He subsequently worked in the Financial Institutions Group, developing quantitative forward-looking analyses. For 8 years he was the Chief Credit Officer for EMEA, leading analysis and coordination of credit and ratings across all rating franchises in the region. He was also the ‘Head of UK’ for MIS, responsible for the running of Moody’s UK operations, from 2019-22 including the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to joining Moody’s, Colin held roles at the Bank of England, Daiwa Capital Markets, the BVCA and at Birmingham University. He has published papers on a range of topics including corporate investment and pricing, credit risk, private equity, data uncertainty, stress testing, financial contagion and monetary policy.

Colin holds degrees from York University, LSE, and Middlesex University. He is a Visiting Professor at Hult International Business School and LSBU, and is also a Fellow of the RSA.

Christoph Trebesch is director of the Research Center “International Finance and Macroeconomics” at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and a Professor of Macroeconomics at Kiel University. Since 2019, he has also been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Ministry of Finance and of the Sciences Po Chair in Sovereign Debt.

Before coming to Kiel, he was an assistant professor at the University of Munich until 2017 and received his PhD from Free University Berlin in 2011. In 2009/2010 he was a Fox Fellow at Yale University. He has been involved in a range of policy projects on sovereign debt, including at the IMF and the US Treasury.

He has widely published in leading academic journals, such as the Journal of Political Economy or the American Economic Review, and his work has been regularly covered in the international media, such as by The Economist, the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times. Currently, his research projects focus on sovereign debt, international finance, financial history, and the economics of populism.

Kostas Axarloglou, dean and professor of international business and strategy (Alba Graduate Business School), associate professor of international business (Democritus University of Thrace), Michael Gerrits Term chair assistant professor of economics (Babson College), visiting assistant professor of economics (Fuqua School of Business, Duke University), instructor (University of Michigan).

He holds a BA from Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, an MA from the University of Michigan and a PhD from the University of Michigan.

Dr Axarloglou is doing research and consulting work in the areas of international business (foreign direct investments), strategy (strategic leadership), and pricing. His research has been published in leading management and economics journals such as Management Science, the Journal of Business, the Journal of the European Economic Association, World Economy and Managerial and Decision Economics. He has received several research grants and also participated in numerous international conferences. Recently, he completed a study for the Athens Academy of Science on “The Lack of FDI Flows in Greece”. Dr Axarloglou serves in various company boards and has done extensive training and consulting work in numerous multinational corporations such as Carrefour, Eurobank, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen-Cilag, Novo Nordisk, Philip Morris International, PepsiCo, Shell, Titan, Viohalco and Vodafone.

Dr Axarloglou, a recipient of the Fulbright scholarship, has extensive teaching experience in all levels of business education and has also received several teaching awards.

He is a member of the American Economic Association.

Panagiotis Liargovas received his BA degree from the University of Athens and his MA and Ph.D degrees in Economics from Clark University, Worcester MA. He has been a Fulbright Scholar, a Bakalas Foundation Scholar, a Teaching Assistant Scholar (Clark University) and a European Commission trainee (Brussels).

He has taught in many Universities including Clark University, Bologna University, and the Universities of: Athens, Patras and Crete. He has been teaching at the Hellenic Open University for more than 19 years. He has served as economic advisor to the Greek Ministry of Finance, the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Municipality of Athens in many occasions. For the period 2013-18 he was the Head of the Parliamentary Budget Office at the Hellenic Parliament.

He is currently chairman of the board and scientific director of the Centre of Planning and Economic Research (KEPE) and of the National Productivity Board. He is also professor at the Department of Economics, University of Peloponnese.

Professor Liargovas specializes on International and European Economics, Monetary Economics, Regional Economics and Economic Development and Policy. His research agenda is highly interdisciplinary, combining economics, international trade and finance, strategy, social issues and management and focuses mainly on two regions: European Union and Southeast Europe (including Greece). His specialization on these issues and regions is manifested in several peer-reviewed publications (books, articles, research reports and conference papers) but also in extensive and continuous teaching. He has made more than 100 publications in academic journals and has published more than 20 books. His latest book (Pataki publishers, in Greek) was published in 2020 and was entitled Ten years of crisis, three memoranda and a pandemic: Greece in search for a way out.

Daniel Gros is a member of the board and distinguished fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). He joined CEPS in 1986 and has been the Director of CEPS from 2000 to 2020.

Prior to joining CEPS, Daniel worked at the IMF and at the European Commission as economic adviser to the Delors Committee that developed the plans for the euro.

Over the last decades, he has been a member of high-level advisory bodies to the French and Belgian governments and has provided advice to numerous central banks and governments, including Greece, the UK, and the US, at the highest political level.

Daniel is currently also an adviser to the European Parliament and was a member of the Advisory Scientific Council (ASC) of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) until June 2020. He held a Fulbright fellowship and was a visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley in 2020.

Daniel holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago. He has published extensively on international economic affairs, including on issues related to monetary and fiscal policy, exchange rates, banking.

He is the author of several books and editor of Economie Internationale and International Finance. He has taught at several leading European Universities and contributes a globally syndicated column on European economic issues to Project Syndicate.

Poul Mathias Thomsen has recently been appointed visiting professor in practice at the London School of Economics. He retired from the IMF on July 31st 2020, after almost 38 years, having worked almost exclusively on Europe.

As director of the European Department from 2014 and until his retirement, Mr Thomsen oversaw the Fund’s policy discussions with all its European member countries and with the ECB and the European Commission. He worked closely with political leaders and senior officials at the national and European level, representing the Fund at Euro Group meetings.

During the Euro Area crisis, Mr Thomsen negotiated programs with Greece (2010 and 2012) and Portugal (2011) and was the Fund’s main interlocutor with the ECB and the European Commission within the so-called “Troika” framework. Before that, during the Global Financial crisis, he supervised the IMF teams negotiating arrangements with Ukraine and Poland and was the lead-negotiator in program discussions with Iceland (2008). Mr Thomsen worked on former centrally planned economies in Central and Eastern Europe from the beginning of the transition process and until the Global Financial Crisis, heading IMF mission to a large number of countries in the region. He was head of the Fund’s Russia team during the Russian financial crisis in 1998 and lived in Russia from 2000 to 2004, heading the Fund’s Moscow Office.

Thomas Wieser was the Brussels based president of the Euro Working Group and chairman of the EU’s Economic and Financial Committee from 2012 to 2018. In this function he was responsible for the preparation of the negotiations and decisions of EU finance ministers. He was the G 7 deputy for the Eurogroup and represented the Euro Working Group in a number of other international fora.

At present he is non resident fellow at Bruegel, the Brussels Think Tank. He recently chaired the European Commission’s “High Level Forum on Capital Market Union”, and the European Council’s “High-Level Group of Wise Persons on the European financial architecture for Development” and is currently member of the French Government’s Commission on the future of Public Finances.

He has held a number of other international functions, such as that of chair of the OECD Committee on Financial Markets and has published on a range of economic policy issues.

John Papageorgiou is a distinguished EU affairs reporter with over 30 years of experience in the media industry. Since 2012, he has been at the forefront of covering stories related to the Greek financial crisis. John has been a prominent radio show host for various stations across Greece since 1992, and he currently presents the main morning news bulletin for the municipal radio of Athens.

In addition to his broadcasting career, John is the founder and head of "Athens Digest," an English-language newsletter that offers comprehensive coverage of the latest news from Greece. He is also a contributor to Oxford Analytica and serves on the advisory board of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP).

Academically, John holds a bachelor's and a master's degree in chemistry from the University of Athens. He also possesses a diploma in journalism and radio production from a private college.

Panos Tsakloglou has a BA in Economics (University of Thessaloniki), MA and PhD in Economics (University of Warwick). He is a professor at the Athens University of Economics and Business, a research fellow of the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA, Bonn) and a senior research fellow of the Hellenic Observatory (LSE, London).

He has published over 100 books, scholarly articles and contributions to collective volumes, made over 200 presentations in conferences and workshops and participated in over 50 research and consultancy projects. His research focuses on Economics of Social Policy (inequality, poverty, social exclusion, redistributive role of the state) Labour and Education Economics (determinants of unemployment, returns to education).

Since August 2020, Panos Tsakloglou has been deputy minister of labour in charge of social insurance. During the period 2012-14 he was chairman of the Greek Government’s Council of Economic Advisers and member of the EU Economic and Financial Committee (EFC) and Eurogroup Working Group (EWG) as well as alternate member of Ecofin and Eurogroup. He has also been Social Policy adviser to Prime Ministers G. Papandreou (2010-2011) and L. Papademos (2011-2012) and a member of the EU Economic Policy Committee (EPC, 2010-2011). Furthermore, he was member of the Greek Government’s Council of Advisors on Employment and Social Insurance (2001-2002), National Council for Research and Technology (2001-2005) Council of Economic Advisors (2002-2004 and 2009-2012) and member of the Independent Authority for the Evaluation of Tertiary Education (2006-2009).

Emeritus professor at the Kapodistrian university of Athens, department of economics, in which he served from 1975 to 2011. He studied law, economics & political sciences in Athens and obtained his PhD in economics at the Free university of Berlin. He served as minister of labour and social affairs (2000-2001), alternate minister of foreign affairs (2001-2004), minister of foreign affairs (spring 2014) and minister of interior (2011-2012) in the governments of Costas Simitis; Chief economic advisor to PM Papandreou and Simitis (1994-2000); President of Economic Advisors (1989-90 and 1993-94); President of Hellenic Petroleum Co (2009-2011) and member of various boards of directors in organisations and companies.

He has published many books and articles on economic, social and political issues. His last books are on The pension system and the crisis (2016) and Greece in Crisis (2013).

Fields of research & publication: Development economics, international economics, European integration, economics of technology and industrial structures and policy.

From May to August 2015 he served as head of the technical negotiations for Greece that led to the third economic adjustment program, an agreement that prevented Greece’s disorderly exit from the European Monetary Union. He subsequently served as interim Finance Minister in the run up to the elections of September 2015. Since then and until the parliamentary elections of July 7th 2019, he had a pivotal role in guiding the economy through one of the most challenging times in its modern history. He oversaw the design and suc-cessful implementation of the fiscal consolidation program 2015-2018, which restored fiscal policy credibility and enabled Greece to regain market access. He also conducted for Greece the technical negotiations that led to the vital debt relief agreement of June 2018. He served as a member of the Eurogroup Working Group (EWG), a member of the Board of Directors of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), and a member of the Economic Policy Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Prior to his public service duties, he was teaching macroeconomics, interna-tional economics and economic history at the University of Manchester and, previously, at the University of Essex. He holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Athens, an MSc in Economics from the University of London and a PhD in Economics from the University of Warwick.

George Papaconstantinou is professor of International Political Economy and director for executive education at the School of Transnational Governance of the European University Institute, where he is also co-directing the Transformation of Global Governance project.

He was born in Athens in 1961, and studied economics in the UK and the US, obtaining a Ph.D in Economics from the London School of Economics. He worked for 10 years at the OECD in Paris as a senior economist, and subsequently returned to Greece to serve in a policy advisory capacity for the government. In 2007, he was elected to the Greek Parliament, and in 2009 to the European Parliament. In October 2009 he was appointed Finance Minister and from that position he played a key role in the Greek crisis, negotiating the first Greek bailout. Subsequently, as Minister of Environment and Energy, he pursued policies to advance Greece’s sustainable growth agenda.

His book on the crisis Game Over: The Inside Story of the Greek Crisis, has been published in Greek, English and German. His recently published new book Whatever It Takes – The Battle for Post-Crisis Europe debates the lessons from the Eurozone crisis for the governance of the EU and the euro in the context of current challenges.

Having 30 years of experience in the banking sector, Mr George Taniskidis has been holding the position of Optima bank’s chairman, since July 2019. He commenced his career as an associate attorney with the law firm of Rogers & Wells in New York. Upon his return to Greece, he joined Motor Oil Hellas.

His banking career commenced in 1990, as head of the consumer business group and branch network of Xiosbank, and was named general manager upon the bank’s acquisition by Piraeus Bank when he served on the Strategic Planning Committee.

From 2002 until June 2010, as chairman and managing director of Millennium Bank Greece, he led the bank from concept to fruition, achieving the bank’s goals three years earlier than expected. In the same period, he led the acquisition of a banking institution in Turkey which was then renamed to Millennium Bank Turkey, and served as a member of its BoD. From 2003 to 2005, he was a member of the BoD of Visa International Europe. He has also served for many years as a member of the BoD of the Hellenic Banks Association.

He currently serves on the BoD in a variety of major companies in the trading, manufacturing, and shipping sectors. Furthermore, since June 2002 Mr Taniskidis has been an active member of the YPO global leadership community. He played a pivotal role in the acquisition of Marfin Bank Romania (currently VISTA BANK) and envisaged the opportunity to create a bank without legacies in Greece. He finally acquired the Investment Bank of Greece (currently Optima bank), which within three years has managed to produce outstanding results and has become a reference bank in the Greek banking system. In 2022 Optima bank more than tripled its recurrent results of 2021 and in 2023 will have its Initial Public Offering in the Athens Stock Exchange.

Mr Taniskidis holds a Law degree from the University of Athens Law School, having graduated first in his class, and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Aristos Doxiadis is partner in Big Pi Ventures, a venture capital fund for Greece that focuses on science-based and deep-technology ventures. Since 2012 he has also been partner in JEREMIE Openfund II, an early-stage VC fund. He is a pioneer of private equity in Greece, with over 25 years of investment and management experience in many industries.

Aristos has been researching and writing on Greek economic development and institutions. His book The Invisible Rift: Institutions and Behaviors in the Greek Economy (in Greek; 2013) has been widely discussed. He is vice-chair of ESETEK, the advisory council on research and innovation to the Government of Greece. He is also on the Board of IOBE, of Solidarity Now and of diaNEOsis.

His earlier experience includes working on anti-poverty programs for the European Commission, planning industrial policy for the Greek government, and managing consulting and auditing companies. He has a B.A. degree in social studies from Harvard University, and an M.Sc. degree in economics from Birkbeck College at the University of London.

Fay Makantasi is the research director of diaNEOsis. She has taught Microeconomic Theory and Game Theory at Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) and Principles of Economics at Hellenic Open University (HOU). She completed her PhD thesis on a game theoretic approach of international trade at AUEB.

As a postdoctoral fellow she focused on public sector reform in Greece, the country's export performance and the measurement of its human capital. During her studies she awarded grants for excellence and research from the Greek State Scholarships Foundation (IKY), the Bank of Cyprus, the Georgios and Victoria Karelia Foundation, the AUEB, the European Research Funding Program -“Heracleitus II”.

She has recently received a research grant from the Hellenic Observatory of LSE on intelligent modeling of e-Government initiatives in Greece. Her research has been published in international journals and she has presented her work in national and international conferences. She has also co-authored and edited socio-economic research about Greece’s exit from the crisis and its modernization.

Dora Bakoyannis has been a member of the Hellenic Parliament, since 1989. In 2002, Dora became the first woman in the history of the city of Athens to be elected mayor of Athens, with a 60.6% vote, the highest percentage ever achieved by a mayor in the city. She took on the task of preparing the city of Athens to host the 2004 Olympic Games. In 2006, Dora took over as foreign affairs minister in the Karamanlis government, a position she held until 2009.

Currently, Dora is the chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on National Defense and Foreign Affairs. In addition, Dora is the chairperson of the Greek Delegation to the inter-parliamentary cooperation between Greece, USA, Israel and Cyprus (3+1).

At European level, Dora Bakoyannis is the chairperson of the Greek Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Since 2013, Dora has been the vice-president of the European People's Party in the Council of Europe.

Dora is a liberal politician with a deep belief in the European Idea. She is known worldwide for her adamant stance against terrorism. Her positions have been repeatedly published in the international press and she has participated as a keynote speaker in dozens of conferences, academic fora and debates around the world.

Dora Bakoyannis is the daughter of the former prime minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis. She is the mother of two and the grandmother of seven. She speaks German, French and English.

Born in Athens in 1959, Michael Mitsos graduated in 1981 from the National Technical University of Athens. After his postgraduate studies in Swansea, Wales, he started working as a journalist for Avgi newspaper, he continued at the Athens News Agency and since 1988 he has been working for the newspaper "TA NEA", where he is the international affairs chief editor. He also writes a daily column named “Hagiographies” and a Saturday page named “Currents and Ideas”.

He has written a book named “Histories shall save us”, he has collaborated in a book named “Violence”, he has translated seven books and he is now translating Michael Sandel’s the “Tyranny of Merit” (all the forementioned books are published by Polis editions).

He speaks fluently English, French and Spanish.