Olga-Nadia Valavani ( el, Όλγα-Νάντια Βαλαβάνη; born 16 August 1954) is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

politician and economist. She was appointed to the role of Alternate Minister of Finance in the cabinet of Alexis Tsipras on 27 January 2015. She resigned from this role on 15 July 2015, before a significant vote on the terms of a bailout package in the

Hellenic Parliament The Hellenic Parliament ( el, Ελληνικό Κοινοβούλιο, Elliniko Kinovoulio; formally titled el, Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Voulí ton Ellínon, Boule (ancient Greece), Boule of the Greeks, Hellenes, label=none), also kno ...

. She had been a

Syriza The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance ( el, Συνασπισμός Ριζοσπαστικής Αριστεράς – Προοδευτική Συμμαχία, Synaspismós Rizospastikís Aristerás – Proodeftikí Simachía), ...

Member of the Hellenic Parliament The Hellenic Parliament ( el, Ελληνικό Κοινοβούλιο, Elliniko Kinovoulio; formally titled el, Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Voulí ton Ellínon, Boule of the Hellenes, label=none), also known as the Parliament of the Hel ...

since May 2012, but defected to Popular Unity in September 2015.

Early life and education

Valavani was a student in

Iraklio Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban Ar ...

during the

Greek military junta The Greek junta or Regime of the Colonels, . Also known within Greece as just the Junta ( el, η Χούντα, i Choúnta, links=no, ), the Dictatorship ( el, η Δικτατορία, i Diktatoría, links=no, ) or the Seven Years ( el, η Ε ...

, and engaged in anti-regime activities under the auspices of the then-outlawed Communist Youth of Greece (KNE) and Communist Party of Greece (KKE), for which she was imprisoned in various facilities, including a five-month stretch in

solitary confinement Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...

. In July 1974 after the end of the dictatorship, she was released from

Korydallos Prison Korydallos Prison Complex is Greece's largest jail and contains the country's main maximum-security prison (Type B), housing both maximum-security men and women. It is located in Korydallos, Piraeus. Famous detainees include members of the anarc ...

, whereupon she returned to her studies. Valavani is a graduate of the

Athens University of Economics and Business Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB; el, Οικονομικό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Oikonomiko Panepistimio Athinon'', abbrev. ΟΠΑ, OPA) was founded in 1920 in Athens, Greece and is the oldest university in Gre ...

Professional career

Valavani worked in an insurance company for 29 years, and from 1996 to 2005 was the director of a hotel in

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

Political career

Valavani took part in the activities of KKE and KNE during the generally more tolerant political atmosphere following the regime change, which allowed her to travel widely throughout Europe and to the United States. She left the KKE in 1989, disagreeing with its decision to serve in the unity government of

Tzannis Tzannetakis Tzannis Tzannetakis ( el, Τζαννής Τζαννετάκης) (13 September 1927 – 1 April 2010) was a Greek politician who was briefly Prime Minister of Greece during the political crisis of 1989. Biography Tzannetakis was born in Gythe ...

. In 2007 she was invited to join the

, and helped organize its activities in Crete. In 2009, she contested

Athens B Athens B (Athens Beta; el, Β΄ Αθηνών) was a parliamentary constituency in Attica represented in the Hellenic Parliament. It covered a large part of urban area of Athens outside the Municipality of Athens, which forms the Athens A const ...

for Syriza and lost in a difficult election, afterwards devoting herself to campaigning for Syriza, working as a canvasser, author of pamphlets, and organizing rallies while engaging in dialogue with other leftist groups and writing opinion pieces for various left and centre-left newspapers. Valavani was first elected to the

representing Athens B for Syriza in May 2012; she was re-elected in June 2012 and again in the January 2015 election. Following the election of a

ANEL The Independent Greeks - National Patriotic Alliance ( el, Ανεξάρτητοι Έλληνες (ΑΝΕΛ), ''Anexartitoi Ellines'', ANEL) is a national-conservative political party in Greece. The party was the junior coalition partner to the ...

coalition on 25 January 2015, Valavani was appointed to the role of Alternate Minister of Finance within the Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras on 27 January. She is one of two Alternate Ministers in the

Ministry of Finance (Greece) The Ministry of Finance ( el, Υπουργείο Οικονομικών) is the government department responsible for Greece's public finances. The incumbent minister is Christos Staikouras of New Democracy. Minister's role According to Arti ...

, the other being

Dimitris Mardas Dimitris Mardas ( gr, Δημήτρης Μάρδας; born 25 March 1955) is a Greek economist and politician who served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs during the Second Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras. He previously served as the Alternate Min ...

. She was responsible for

taxation A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal person, legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regiona ...

and overseeing

privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

. On 15 July 2015, Valavani resigned from her role as Alternate Minister of Finance in the Greek government, shortly before an important vote on a bailout package. In her resignation letter to

Alexis Tsipras Alexis Tsipras ( el, Αλέξης Τσίπρας, ; born 28 July 1974) is a Greek politician serving as Leader of the Official Opposition since 2019. He served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019. Tsipras has led the Coalition of th ...

, she wrote that the "agreement is a tombstone" and that it was a "humiliation of government and country". In September 2015, Valavani left Syriza and joined the Syriza split-away party, Popular Unity, alongside

Zoi Konstantopoulou Zoe Konstantopoulou ( el, Ζωή Κωνσταντοπούλου; born 8 December 1976) is a Greek lawyer and politician who served as President of the Hellenic Parliament in 2015, and is currently serving as President of the political party C ...

. During the September 2015 legislative election,

Yanis Varoufakis Ioannis "Yanis" Varoufakis ( el, Ιωάννης Γεωργίου "Γιάνης" Βαρουφάκης, Ioánnis Georgíou "Giánis" Varoufákis, ; born 24 March 1961) is a Greek economist and politician. A former academic, he served as the Gree ...

, former Minister of Finance who Valavani worked under for several months, announced that he would be voting for Popular Unity and in particular supporting Valavani and Kostas Isychos in Athens B.

Personal life

In 1975, she married

labour law Labour laws (also known as labor laws or employment laws) are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, ...

yer Dimos Tsaknias, with whom she had two children, a son and a daughter. Tsaknias, like his wife a Syriza (and former Communist) politician, died on 2 November 2014. On 8 March 2015 Valavani was admitted to an Athens hospital suffering the symptoms of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

apparently brought on from stress.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valavani, Nadia 20th-century Greek economists Communist Party of Greece politicians Syriza politicians 1954 births Politicians from Heraklion Living people Greek government-debt crisis Greek MPs 2012 (May) Greek MPs 2012–2014 Greek MPs 2015 (February–August) Finance ministers of Greece Women members of the Hellenic Parliament 21st-century Greek women politicians Women government ministers of Greece

Early life and education

Professional career

Political career

Personal life

See also

References