Alekos Alavanos

Greek politician

Αλέκος Αλαβάνος

Alavanos in 2007

President of SynaspismosIn office
12 December 2004 – 11 February 2008Preceded byNikos KonstantopoulosSucceeded byAlexis TsiprasMember of the European Parliament
for GreeceIn office
15 June 1989 – 13 June 2004In office
18 October 1981 – 17 June 1984 Personal detailsBorn (1950-05-22) 22 May 1950 (age 73)
Athens, GreecePolitical partyPlan B (2013–present)Other political
affiliationsKKE (?–1991)
SYRIZA (1991–2013)

Alexandros 'Alekos' Alavanos (Greek: Αλέξανδρος 'Αλέκος' Αλαβάνος; born 22 May 1950 in Athens) is a Greek politician, former member of the Hellenic Parliament and the European Parliament. From 2004 until 2008 he was president of the Coalition of the Left of Movements and Ecology, commonly known as Synaspismos. He was parliamentary leader of the wider Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA).

Biography

Early life

Born on 22 May 1950 in Athens, Alavanos has been politically active since his youth. During the military dictatorship of 1967-1974, Alavanos participated in the student movement against the regime; as a result his military service deferment was revoked and he was briefly incarcerated in the EAT/ESA military prison.^{[citation needed]}

Political career

He was elected to the European Parliament in 1981 with the Communist Party of Greece and again in 1989, 1994 and 1999 with Synaspismos.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2004 Greek legislative election, Alavanos was elected MP in Athens. Since Nikos Konstantopoulos, his predecessor in Synaspismos' leadership, announced his intention not to be a candidate for another term, Alavanos announced his own candidacy for the office. The party congress elected him president on 12 December 2004.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2007 Greek legislative election, running as leader of SYRIZA, which more than doubled its parliamentary seats, he was narrowly elected an MP in Heraklion, Crete.^{[citation needed]}

On 27 November 2007, Alavanos announced that he would not apply for a renewal of his presidency of Synaspismos at its 5th party congress in February 2008, due to private reasons.^[1] He was replaced by Alexis Tsipras.

"In Europe all the big powers, the parties, the banks, the big corporations have a plan B to deal with the prospect of Greece's exit from the eurozone. Only Greece has not in hand a plan B. Both the government and the parties in opposition have neglected the necessity to work on a plan B. If however, Greece is taken by surprise when forced to exit the eurozone, with people panicking, this is going to be a disaster."

—Alavanos, as quoted in Workers' Liberty^[2]

In February 2011 he left Synaspismos and founded the Front of Solidarity and Overthrow with other former members of Coalition of the Radical Left.^{[citation needed]} Communist Organization of Greece, Internationalist Workers' Left, Movement for the United in Action Left and Anticapitalist Political Group joined the front, but they left it in 2012 due to political disputes.^{[citation needed]}

He again founded a new political party in 2013, founding Plan B specifically to contest the 2014 European Parliament election in Greece.^[3] The party's platform is centered on exiting Greece from the eurozone.^[3]

Personal life

Alekos Alavanos is an economist. He is married to Aikaterini Charalambaki and is the father of two daughters.^{[citation needed]}

Notes

^ Synaspismos press release
^ "The Greek left and Plan B". Workers' Liberty. 11 December 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
^ ^a ^b "Ex-SYRIZA leader Alavanos to launch 'Plan B' movement favoring Greek euro exit". Kathimerini. 12 March 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2013.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alekos Alavanos.

Short biography in Greek Archived 2006-05-04 at the Wayback Machine
Personal profile of Alekos Alavanos in the European Parliament's database of members
Terms of office of Alekos Alavanos at the Hellenic Parliament (in English)
"Personal page of Alekos Alavanos" (in Greek). Archived from the original on 2006-05-04. Retrieved 2004-12-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

Party political offices
Preceded by Nikos Konstantopoulos	Chairman of Synaspismos 2004 – 2008	Succeeded by Alexis Tsipras

Party of the European Left

European Parliament group: The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL

Parties

Member parties	KPÖ Spravedlivyj Mir BL/БЛ RF Levice Enhedslisten EÜV SKP Vas. PCF Die Linke Syriza European Left PRC Déi Lénk PCRM B.E. PCP PSR SU Levica IU PCE EUiA PdA/PST-POP/PSL SOL Left Unity
Observer parties	MD AKEL/ΑΚΕΛ KSČM FI GRS SI YKP BKP KSS Sortu
Partner parties	Der Wandel Ensemble! République et socialisme Marxist Left Táncsics Democratic Left Scotland
Former members	KP PCB SYN/ΣΥΝ Munkáspárt RCS PG