Calamos Supports Greece
GreekReporter.comGreecePanagiotis Pikrammenos: Greece's One-night Stand 'Embittered' New PM

Panagiotis Pikrammenos: Greece's One-night Stand 'Embittered' New PM

There is a country where people no longer laugh and everyone is gloomy and miserable. This country’s Prime Minister is called Panagiotis Pikrammenos a.k.a “embittered” and reflects perfectly the feelings reigning in its citizens, wrote a Greek 19-year-old university student on his twitter account the day Pikrammenos was appointed as Greece’s caretaker Prime Minister. The minute Pikrammenos’ name was announced, both the social and mainstream media went ballistic as Pikrammenos in Greek means “embittered.” “He will be introducing himself as “embittered from Greece so he will be able to represent all of us,” joked the journalists.
One-Night-Stand PM
The  senior judge was appointed as prime minister of a caretaker government that will lead the country to repeat elections next month. Insiders from the Greek political scene say Pikrammenos will be able to keep the peace until elections in June but his work will be limited to that of a peace keeper.
Greek media call him the one-night-stand PM as they see him as the  the man who fills in a position for a very short term until Greece elects a new government. This one-night stand caretaker government does not have any real power, nor responsibilities to do anything but just keep the political scene in Greece as it is, until the new government comes in.
The Right Man for The Job
Born in Athens in 1945, as Greece was poised to descend into civil war, Pikrammenos is part of the country’s old bourgeoisie and is described as “decent and well-mannered.” Since 2010, he is President of the Council of State (Supreme Administration Court), which examines among others, legal cases on their compatibility with the Greek constitution. He studied Law at the Athens Law University and post-degree studies in Public Law in Paris. During 1992-1993, Pikrammenos worked as legal advisor at the office of conservative Prime Minister Kostantinos Mitsotakis.
He was President when the Council of State (Supreme Administrative Court) decided that the Memorandum of Understanding I (loan agreement) was in compliance with the Greek Constitution. Under his presidency, the Council of State also ruled that the emergency property tax is in compliance with the Constitution only if it is temporary and not permanent and that power cuts due to unpaid property tax via electricity bills are against the Constitution.
“He is very good at tackling tensions and keeping the peace,” said one insider to the Guardian. “At the high court, he has shown some agility in being able to maneuver and keep the right balances. They are assets that may well be very useful given the situation in Greece.”

Not so “embittered” after all
The new Greek PM is a sea and a motorbike lover. Those who know him well speak of a man perfectly balanced between work and life, and highlight his sense of morality and humor.
According to the newspaper Ethnos, his friends say he’s a man who knows and honors good food and his weakness is the island raki. In his little spare time, Pikrammenos likes reading books and going to the theatre. He loves  swimming and snorkelling and the peace offered by the beautiful Greek coast, and owns a villa somewhere on a rocky beach on the island of Mykonos.

See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!



Related Posts