Euclid Tsakalotos | |
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Ευκλείδης Τσακαλώτος | |
Minister of Finance | |
In office 23 September 2015 – 9 July 2019 | |
Prime Minister | Alexis Tsipras |
Preceded by | George Chouliarakis |
Succeeded by | Christos Staikouras |
In office 6 July 2015 – 28 August 2015 | |
Prime Minister | Alexis Tsipras |
Preceded by | Yanis Varoufakis |
Succeeded by | George Chouliarakis |
Alternate Minister for International Economic Relations | |
In office 27 January 2015 – 6 July 2015 | |
Prime Minister | Alexis Tsipras |
Minister | Nikos Kotzias |
Member of the Hellenic Parliament | |
Assumed office 6 May 2012 | |
Constituency | Athens B |
Personal details | |
Born | 19 June 1960 Rotterdam, Netherlands | (age 64)
Political party | New Left (since December 2023) |
Other political affiliations | Syriza (until November 2023) |
Spouse | Heather Gibson |
Children | 3 |
Alma mater | Queen's College, Oxford Institute of Development Studies Mansfield College, Oxford |
Signature | |
Academic career | |
Field | Monetary economics Managerial economics National accounts |
Institutions | University of Kent (1989–1993) Athens University of Economics and Business (1993–2010) University of Athens (2010–present) |
Euclid Stefanou Tsakalotos (Greek: Ευκλείδης Στεφάνου Τσακαλώτος,[1] Greek pronunciation: [efˈkliðis steˈfanu t͜sakaˈlotos]; born 1960) is a Greek economist and politician who was Minister of Finance of Greece from 2015 to 2019. He was also a member of the Central Committee of Syriza and has represented Athens B in the Hellenic Parliament since May 2012.[2] He left Syriza in November 2023 and on 5 December 2023 he became founding member of New Left (Greece) parliamentary group.
Tsakalotos was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, but moved to the United Kingdom at a young age. He went to St Paul's School in London before studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics at The Queen's College, University of Oxford. He went on to complete a master's degree at the Institute of Development Studies, which is attached to the University of Sussex, and returned to Oxford to complete a doctorate in economics under the supervision of Włodzimierz Brus, which he did in 1989. From 1989 to 1993, Tsakalotos worked at the University of Kent, where he met his partner, Heather D. Gibson. He moved to Greece, and taught at the Athens University of Economics and Business from 1994 to 2010, becoming a professor of economics. Since 2010, he has been a professor of economics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He has written a number of books in both Greek and English and has been published in a range of different academic journals. Due to his upbringing in the UK, he speaks English with a British accent.
A student member of the Communist Party of Greece, Tsakalotos joined Synaspismos in the early 1990s and was elected to the Central Committee of Syriza in 2004 shortly after their formation. He was first elected as a Member of the Hellenic Parliament for Athens B in the May 2012 legislative election and has been re-elected in every election since. In opposition from 2012 to 2015, he was Syriza's shadow finance minister. When Syriza entered government in January 2015, Tsakalotos was appointed as an Alternate Minister within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In April, he took over as head of Greece's negotiating team on the third bailout package. On 6 July 2015, following Yanis Varoufakis's resignation, Tsakalotos was appointed as Minister of Finance. He was re-appointed in September 2015 following the snap legislative election.