Konstantinos Mitsotakis

Konstantinos Mitsotakis (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Μητσοτάκης, romanized: Konstantínos Mitsotákis, IPA: [konsta(n)ˈdinos mit͡soˈtacis]; 31 October [O.S. 18 October] 1918 – 29 May 2017) was a Greek liberal politician and statesman. He served as prime minister of Greece from 1990 to 1993.

Born in Chania, Crete, the largest Greek island, he came from a politically prominent family related to Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos (1910-20; 1928-33). Mitsotakis graduated in law and economics from the University of Athens. He joined politics in 1946 as a member of the Liberal Party. During the 1950s and 1960s, he held several ministerial posts. He joined Center Union party in 1961 and he was regarded as a potential candidate for the party's leadership by 1965. However, he crossed party lines against Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou and his son Andreas Papandreou in the Iouliana of 1965, which made him a controversial figure for decades. After the fall of the Greek junta in 1974, Mitsotakis worked to rebuild his political reputation, and in 1978, joined the political party of Konstantinos Karamanlis, New Democracy. He rose to its leadership in 1984, standing out as one of the few most experienced politicians capable of confronting the populist Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou and the ruling PASOK party. Their rivalry deeply polarized Greek society, cumulating in the "catharsis" era (1989), when Andreas was indicted in connection with the Koskotas scandal after an unlikely coalition between New Democracy and Synaspismos, which included the formerly-banned Communist Party, was formed following the June 1989 elections.

Coming to power in 1990, Mitsotakis implemented an austerity program combined with policies of economic liberalization and privatization in an effort to reverse the economic divergence of the previous decade and steer Greece toward meeting the Euro convergence criteria. His government also improved relations with neighboring countries and the United States, ratifying the Maastricht Treaty. However, his tenure was marred by political instability and internal party conflicts, one which was the handling of the Macedonia naming dispute, that led to the sacking of Foreign Minister Antonis Samaras in 1992. The next year, Samaras lured New Democracy MPs into his own political party, resulting in a loss of majority in Parliament and subsequently defeated in the ensuing elections.

After resigning from the Presidency of New Democracy in November 1993, Mitsotakis remained an influential figure in Greek public life even after leaving office, spanning 58 years of active political career. In 2017, He died at the age of 98. His son, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, was elected as the prime minister of Greece in 2019.