Yannis Dragasakis (; born 1 January 1947) is a Greek politician and the former

Deputy Prime Minister of Greece The Deputy Prime Minister of Greece ( el, Αντιπρόεδρος της Κυβερνήσεως, "Vice-President of the Government"; older form: Αντιπρόεδρος του Υπουργικού Συμβουλίου, "Vice-President of the ...

, serving twice from 27 January to 28 August 2015 and 23 September 2015 to 8 July 2019. He is a member of the

Greek 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 He ...

for the

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

(SYRIZA) for the

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 ...

constituency.

Early life and education

Dragasakis was born in the village of

Anatoli Anatoli ( el, Ανατολή) is a town and a former municipality in the Ioannina regional unit, Epirus, Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southe ...

Lasithi Lasithi ( el, Λασίθι) is the easternmost regional unit on the island of Crete, to the east of Heraklion. Its capital is Agios Nikolaos, the other major towns being Ierapetra and Sitia. The mountains include the Dikti in the west and the Th ...

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, ...

. He studied political science and economics in Greece and at

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

and has worked as an economist, researcher and business advisor for different companies in Europe. He was a member of the mission of the Greek Parliament in the

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, pro ...

and the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up ...

Political career

He was a prominent member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece until 1991 when he resigned to join Synaspismos, and became one of their founding members. He later became a member of Syriza. Dragasakis was first elected as a Member of the Hellenic Parliament (MP) in 1989 for the Coalition of the Left of Movements and Ecology, in the constituency of

Chania Chania ( el, Χανιά ; vec, La Canea), also spelled Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno and west of Heraklion. The muni ...

. He was re-elected in 1996 for

. At all subsequent elections, he has been re-elected, but since 2004, he has stood for Syriza. On 13 November 1989, he was appointed Alternate Minister of National Economy in the Ecumenical Cabinet of

Xenophon Zolotas Xenophon Euthymiou Zolotas ( el, Ξενοφών Ζολώτας, 26 April 1904 – 10 June 2004) was a Greek economist and served as an interim non-party Prime Minister of Greece. Life and career Born in Athens on 26 April 1904. He graduated fro ...

, and served in this role until 13 February 1990, when he was removed in a

cabinet reshuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the Head of State changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parli ...

. On 7 October 2008, he was elected as Deputy Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, the first Deputy Speaker from Syriza's parliamentary group. He served for a one-year period, but was elected again in 2012, serving the whole legislative period until December 2014. Dragasakis is one of the "economic quartet" of Syriza, the four main economists responsible for their economic policy, alongside

Euclid Tsakalotos Euclid Stefanou Tsakalotos ( el, Ευκλείδης Στεφάνου Τσακαλώτος, ; born 1960) is a Greek economist and politician who was Minister of Finance of Greece from 2015 to 2019. He is also a member of the Central Committee of ...

Giorgos Stathakis Giorgos Stathakis ( el, Γιώργος Σταθάκης; born 8 November 1953) is a Greek politician and economist. From 27 January to 28 August 2015, he served as the Minister of Economy, Infrastructure, Shipping and Tourism in the cabinet of ...

and

John Milios John Milios ( ; born 1952) is a Greek social scientist and Marxian economics scholar. He is Professor of Political Economy and the History of Economic Thought at the National Technical University of Athens. An author of several scholarly books ...

Deputy Prime Minister

Following the January 2015 legislative election, Syriza formed a coalition government with

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 ...

. Alexis Tsipras, the leader of Syriza, became

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

, and in turn appointed Dragasakis as

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...

. In March 2015, Dragasakis co-authored an article in the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

'' with

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 ...

and

that asked Greece's creditors to give them a chance. After

, the

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

, resigned on 6 July, Dragasakis was named as a potential successor. Varoufakis was later succeeded by

Personal life

Dragasakis speaks

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

as well as

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 ...

. He has two daughters, Marianna and Rinio. Friends have described him as "rigid and inflexible in terms of socialist perspective", but also tactical as he "the realism of everyday life". He has also been described as "grounded in reality". According to Stathis Kouvelakis, former Syriza spokesperson, Dragasakis is widely considered to have strong personal relationships with the

Greek bankers 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 ...

, going back to his early career.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dragasakis, Yannis 1947 births People from Ierapetra Living people Politicians from Crete Communist Party of Greece politicians Greek MPs 1989–1990 Coalition of Left, of Movements and Ecology politicians Greek MPs 1996–2000 Greek MPs 2004–2007 Greek MPs 2007–2009 Syriza politicians Greek MPs 2012 (May) Greek MPs 2012–2014 Greek MPs 2015 (February–August) Government ministers of Greece Deputy Prime Ministers of Greece Greek MPs 2015–2019 Greek MPs 2019–2023