Minister of Foreign Affairs
Which position did Antonis Samaras hold from Apr 1990 to Apr 1992?
Antonis Samaras Antonis Samaras ( , ; born 23 May 1951 ) is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2012 to 2015 . A member of the New Democracy party , he was its president from 2009 until 2015 . Samaras started his national political career as Minister of Finance in 1989 ; he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1989 to 1992 ( with a brief interruption in 1990 ) and Minister of Culture and Sports in 2009 . Samaras was previously best known for a 1993 controversy in which he effectively caused the New Democracy government , of which he was a member , to fall from power . In spite of this , he rejoined the party in 2004 and was elected to its leadership in a closely fought intra-party election in late 2009 . He was the seventh party leader since it was founded in 1974 . Early life and education . Born in Athens , Samaras is the son of Doctor Konstantinos Samaras ( a Professor of Cardiology ) and Lena ( née Zannas , a maternal granddaughter of author Penelope Delta ) . His brother , Alexander , is an architect . His paternal uncle , George Samaras , was a long-standing Member of Parliament for Messinia in the 1950s and 1960s . Samaras grew up among the Athens well-connected families , playing tennis . At the age of 17 , he won the Greek Teen Tennis Championship . He attended school in the Athens College ( founded by his maternal great-grandfather , Stefanos Delta and Emmanouil Benakis , Deltas father-in-law ) and graduated from Amherst College in 1974 with a degree in economics , and then from Harvard University in 1976 with an MBA . Samaras and former Prime Minister George Papandreou were dormitory roommates during their student years at Amherst College , but became bitter political rivals . He is married and has a daughter and a son . Political career . Early political involvement . Samaras has been elected as a Member of Parliament , initially for Messinia , from 1977 onward . In 1989 he became Minister of Finance , later advancing to become the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the New Democracy government of Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis ( 1990–1993 ) , from which post he caused the Macedonia naming dispute to ignite . In a meeting of the Greek political leaders under the President of the Republic on the naming dispute on 13 April 1992 , Samaras presented his own conditions for the solution of the crisis . These were rejected by both the President of the Republic , Konstantinos Karamanlis as well as the Prime Minister , Konstantinos Mitsotakis . Samaras was subsequently removed from Minister of Foreign Affairs . Foundation of Political Spring . After being removed from his post , Samaras founded his own party , Political Spring ( Greek : Πολιτική Άνοιξη , romanised as Politiki Anoixi ) , located politically to the right of New Democracy . The defection of one Member of Parliament from New Democracy to Samaras party caused the governments fall from power in 1993 . Political Spring gained 4.9% of the vote in the 1993 general election , earning ten seats in the Hellenic Parliament . They gained 8.7% in the elections in the 1994 European Parliament elections , earning two seats . Its decline started in the 1996 general election , when it gained 2.94 per cent , just below the 3 per cent threshold necessary to enter parliament . They participated in the 1999 European Parliament elections , but only got 2.3% , which was not enough to elect MEPs . Return to the New Democracy . Political Spring did not participate in the 2000 general election ; Samaras publicly supported the New Democracy party . Before the 2004 general election , Samaras dissolved his party , rejoined New Democracy and he was elected a Member of the European Parliament ( MEP ) in the 2004 European elections . In the 2007 general election he was elected to the Hellenic Parliament for Messinia and consequently resigned from the European Parliament . He was succeeded by Margaritis Schinas . In January 2009 he was appointed Minister of Culture following a government reshuffle . In this capacity he inaugurated the new Acropolis Museum in July 2009 . He was reelected in Messenia in 2009 . After New Democracy resoundingly lost the 2009 legislative election , Kostas Karamanlis resigned as head of the party , prompting a leadership race , and Samaras ran for the post . Early polls showed he was running neck and neck with the perceived initial favorite Dora Bakoyanni , the former Foreign Minister and former Athens mayor . Shortly thereafter , another leadership candidate , former Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos announced he was resigning his candidacy and would support Samaras instead . In a break with previous practice , an extraordinary party congress resolved that the new leader would be elected by party members in a countrywide ballot . Samaras candidacy soared in opinion polls and finished the race as a favorite . Leader of the Opposition . In the early morning hours of 30 November 2009 , Samaras was elected the new President of New Democracy . Following early results showing Samaras in a comfortable lead , Bakoyanni , his main rival , conceded defeat and called Samaras to congratulate him . He accepted his election with a speech at the party headquarters , and pledged to carry out a broad ideological and organizational reform , aspiring to regain majority status . He was later instrumental in the expulsion of Bakoyanni ( 2010 ) for defying the party line and voting for an austerity measure required for European Union-International Monetary Fund backed lending . Prime Minister George Papandreou announced his governments plans on 31 October to hold a referendum on the acceptance of the terms of a Eurozone bailout deal . The referendum was to be held in December 2011 or January 2012 . Following vehement opposition from both within and outside the country , Papandreou however scrapped the plan a few days later on 3 November . On 5 November , his government only narrowly won a confidence vote in the Greek Parliament and Samaras called for immediate elections . The next day Papandreou met with opposition leaders trying to reach an agreement on the formation of an interim national unity government . However , Samaras only gave in , after Papandreou agreed to step aside , allowing the EU bailout to proceed and paving the way for elections on 19 February 2012 . After several days of intense negotiations , the two major parties along with the Popular Orthodox Rally agreed to form a grand coalition headed by former Vice President of the European Central Bank Lucas Papademos . On 10 November , George Papandreou formally resigned as Prime Minister of Greece . The new coalition cabinet and Prime Minister Lucas Papademos were formally sworn in on 11 November 2011 . Prime Minister of Greece . Following the May 2012 general election in which the New Democracy party became the largest party in the Hellenic Parliament , Samaras was asked by Greek President Karolos Papoulias to try to form a government . However , after a day of negotiations with the other parties , Samaras officially announced he was giving up the mandate to form a government . The task passed to Alexis Tsipras , Leader of Syriza , the second largest party , who was also unable to form a government . After the Panhellenic Socialist Movement ( PASOK ) also failed to negotiate a successful agreement to form a government , emergency talks with the President of Greece ended with a new election being called while the outgoing Chairman of the Council of State Panagiotis Pikrammenos was appointed as Prime Minister of Greece in a caretaker government composed of independent technocrats . Voters once again took to the polls in the widely watched June 2012 election . The New Democracy party came out on top in a stronger position with 129 seats , compared to 108 in the May election . On 20 June 2012 , Samaras successfully formed a coalition with the PASOK ( now led by former Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos ) and the Democratic Left ( DIMAR ) . The new government had a majority of 28 ( which was later reduced to 18 ) , with Syriza , the Independent Greeks ( ANEL ) , Golden Dawn ( XA ) and the Communist Party ( KKE ) comprising the opposition . The PASOK and DIMAR chose to take a limited role in Samarass Cabinet , being represented by party officials and independent technocrats instead of MPs . The Democratic Left left the coalition on 21 June 2013 in protest at the closure of the nations public broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation ( ERT ) , leaving Samaras with a slim majority of 153 ND and PASOK MPs combined . The two remaining parties proceeded to negotiate a cabinet reshuffle that resulted in a significantly expanded role for PASOK in the new coalition government . A further reshuffle followed the 2014 European Parliament election . Samaras implemented a series of reforms and austerity measures with the aim of reducing government budget deficits and making the Greek economy competitive . In 2013 he passed reform bills approving the layoff of 15,000 public employees , among them high school teachers , school guards and municipal policemen . At the same time , he cut value-added tax ( VAT ) in restaurants to 13 percent from 23 percent . He also passed a bill instituting the Single Property Tax and the auction of houses . The Minister of Administrative Reform and e-Governance Kyriakos Mitsotakis implemented an evaluation process on the public sector to locate surplus staff members . Greece achieved a primary government budget surplus in 2013 . In April 2014 , Greece returned to the global bond market as it successfully sold €3 billion worth of five-year government bonds at a yield of 4.95% . Greeces credit rating was upgraded by Fitch from B− to B . Greece returned to growth after six years of economic decline in the second quarter of 2014 , and was the eurozones fastest-growing economy in the third quarter . Tourism also grew . It is estimated that throughout 2013 Greece welcomed over 17.93 million tourists , an increase of 10% compared to 2012 . More than 22 million tourists visited Greece in 2014 . On healthcare , Minister for Health Adonis Georgiadis gave complete free pharmaceutical coverage to more than 2.000.000 uninsured citizens , with the cost being set at 340 million euros . On 9 December 2014 , Samaras announced the candidacy of New Democracy politician Stavros Dimas for the position of President of Greece . Dimas failed to secure the required majority of MPs of the Hellenic Parliament in the first three rounds of voting . According to the provisions of the Constitution of Greece , snap elections were held on 25 January 2015 , which were won by Syriza . Tsipras succeeded Samaras , who resigned as Leader of New Democracy on 5 July 2015 , following the overwhelming victory of the No vote in the bailout referendum , naming Vangelis Meimarakis as transitional leader . Samaras had been backing a Yes vote , together with his party , before the referendum .