Nikos Pappas (politician)

Not to be confused with Nikos Pappas (basketball).

Nikos Pappas
Νίκος Παππάς
Parliamentary representative of Syriza
Incumbent
Assumed office
4 December 2024
Prime MinisterKyriakos Mitsotakis
Preceded bySokratis Famellos
Minister of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media
In office
27 August 2024 – 21 November 2024
Prime MinisterAlexis Tsipras
Preceded byoffice established
Succeeded byKyriakos Pierrakakis
Minister of State
In office
27 January 2015 – 28 August 2015
Prime MinisterAlexis Tsipras
Preceded byDimitrios Stamatis
Succeeded byEleftherios Papageorgopoulos
Member of the Hellenic Parliament
Incumbent
Assumed office
25 January 2015
ConstituencyAthens B
Personal details
Born (1976-07-16) 16 July 1976 (age 48)
Athens, Greece
Political partySyriza
Alma materUniversity of Strathclyde
Profession
  • Politician
  • Economist

Nikos Pappas (Greek: Νίκος Παππάς; born 16 July 1976) is a Greek economist and politician who serves as parliamentary representative of Syriza. [1] He also served as Minister of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media in Alexis Tsipras' second cabinet.[2] He represents the Athens B constituency in the Hellenic Parliament.

Early life and education

Pappas studied at the University of Strathclyde and completed his PhD there in 2013, having written his thesis on the topic of the macroeconomic impact of projected population changes in Greece. In 2015, the University of Strathclyde Students' Association awarded Pappas lifetime membership for doing "inspiring work" to "rebalance the economic injustices facing working people".[3]

Pappas lived in Scotland until he was invited to Greece in February 2008 by Alexis Tsipras. He formerly worked at the Fraser of Allander Institute, part of the University of Strathclyde, as a researcher.[4]

Political career

Pappas was a minister of the government of Alexis Tsipras.[5] They first met at a meeting of Synaspismos Youth when they were 19.[4] He later became Tsipras' chief of staff.[6] He was appointed as a Minister of State in the First Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras.[5] On 24 February 2023, Pappas was convicted by a Special Tribunal to two years in prison for the crime of breach of duty relating to his handling of television broadcast licenses during his tenure as Minister of Communications in the government of Alexis Tsipras from 2015 to 2019.

In 2023 he participated in the 2023 Syriza leadership election being eliminated in the first round coming second to last with 12,787 (8.7%) later endorsing Stefanos Kasselakis who ended up winning the election and becoming leader of the party.[7]

In 2024 after the European parliamentary elections and in prospects of a possible Pasok leadership election in autumn of the same year, he started supporting the idea of a united centre-left to counter New Democracy in the elections of 2027 much alike the alliance of the New Popular Front in France.[8][9]

References

  1. ^ Pappas and Giannoulis the "voice" of SYRIZA in the Parliament (in Greek)
  2. ^ "New Greek PM Alexis Tsipras forms cabinet". BBC News. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  3. ^ Denholm, Andrew (18 May 2015). "Greek minister honoured by Scottish students". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  4. ^ a b "The Who's Who of the new Greek Gov't". Proto Thema. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  5. ^ a b Zikakou, Ioanna (1 February 2015). "Who Is Who in the New Greek Government". Greek Reporter. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  6. ^ Hope, Kerin (28 January 2015). "Tsipras picks anti-austerity professor as Greek finance minister". Financial Times. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  7. ^ "ΣΥΡΙΖΑ: Ο Ν. Παππάς στηρίζει τον Στέφανο Κασσελάκη" kathimerini.gr (in Greek) 19 September 2023
  8. ^ "Νίκος Παππάς: Δεν είναι εμπόδιο τα χρέη του ΠΑΣΟΚ για την εκλογική συνεργασία με τον ΣΥΡΙΖΑ/" athensvoice.gr (in Greek) 20 June 2024
  9. ^ "Εκλογική συνεργασία ΣΥΡΙΖΑ-ΠΑΣΟΚ όπως στη Γαλλία" avgi.gr (in Greek) 25 June 2024