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PANAGIOTOPOULOS P. PANAGIOTIS (PANOS)
MINISTER OF EMPLOYMENT & SOCIAL WELFARE
Curriculum Vitae
Born in Athens on 12-11-1957.
He has a son.
Profession: Lawyer, journalist.
Studies: Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki; Law, University of Athens and Vincennes University, Paris; French Institute Francais d' Athθnes.
Foreign Languages: French, English.
Social activities
Senior administrative executive in mass media companies, mainly in the private sector, for many years. Key positions included those of news editor for SKY 100.4 FM; news editor for STAR TV; and director of current affairs broadcasts for ET1 (state TV channel) and TV ANTENNA. Founding executive of Athens 9,84 FM, a municipal radio station, and regularly collaborates with Antenna 97,1 FM and Planet 104,5 FM. Political editor and columnist for the Athens daily newspapers Kathimerini, Eleftheros Typos, Apogevmatini, Vradyni and To Vima. Member of the ONNED (the Youth Section of ND) leadership; member of the Youth Section of the ND Management Committee, and a key member of the ND Government Programme Committee (1984-1985). ND party officer for matters concerning energy and natural resources, for the National Tourist Board (EOT) and the Hellenic Tourism Real Estate S.A. Received many prizes and awards from organisations including the Botsis Foundation, the Hellenic Society of Christian Letters, and the Panhellenic Reservists' League. Covered many international events and has interviewed personalities such as Vartholomaios, the Ecumenical Patriarch; ex-President Yeltsin of Russia ; Abdullah Ocalan, the Kurdish Leader; and former French Prime Ministers Juppι and Mauroy. Current presenter of Profile, a television programme, and contributes articles to the daily press. Practising lawyer dealing with Criminal and Company Law. Member of the Athens Daily Newspapers Journalist's Union (ESHEA) and of the Athens Bar Association. Served his military service in the Hellenic Air Force. Elected onto the ND Political Council on 27-04-2001.
During his mandate at the Parliament he was the main rapporteur for the National Budget and rapporteur for many other laws particularly important for the economic and social policy. He is one of the Ministers who politically underpins Karamanlis Government policy through his regular attendance at the Parliament and his public appearance in the media.
Since March 2004 to date he has been Minister of Employment and Social Security and it is well acknowledged by all that despite being a fervent supporter of a free market economy in which the State abandons its entrepreneurial role and is limited in effectively exercising social policy, he has nevertheless managed to maintain an open dialogue with the trade unions which in their vast majority support the opposition party.
Last summer he drew up and passed at the Parliament a very important legislative act, namely Law 3385/2005 by virtue of which structural measures are taken to strengthen competitiveness, in particular of small and medium size enterprises and other important measures are also taken to reinforce social cohesion.
The National Action Plan for Employment that he elaborated as the competent Minister was favorably accepted by the European Commission in Brussels. This Plan included important breakthroughs to update the infrastructure to support employment in Greece.
Another element attributed to him is that when New Democracy party took power it was bequeathed from PASOK (opposition party) a high unemployment rate around 11,3%, whereas today after 20 months under the new government unemployment has registered a marked decline by more than one percentage point. The Minister himself has characterized this in a personal statement as positive evidence that the policy followed is the correct one. He also underlines that everyone should try harder to cut down on unemployment more drastically as it represents one of the biggest problems of the Modern Greek society.
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