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Euclid Stefanou Tsakalotos (Greek: Ευκλείδης Στεφάνου Τσακαλώτος [efˈkliðis steˈfanu t͡sakaˈlotos]; born 1960) is a Greek economist and politician who was Minister of Finance of Greece from 2015 to 2019. He was also a member of the Central Committee of Syriza and has represented Athens B in the Hellenic Parliament since May 2012. He left Syriza in November 2023 and on 5 December 2023 he became founding member of New Left (Greece) parliamentary group.

Tsakalotos was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, but moved to the United Kingdom at a young age. He went to St Paul's School in London before studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics at The Queen's College, University of Oxford. He went on to complete a master's degree at the Institute of Development Studies, which is attached to the University of Sussex, and returned to Oxford to complete a doctorate in economics under the supervision of Włodzimierz Brus, which he did in 1989. From 1989 to 1993, Tsakalotos worked at the University of Kent, where he met his partner, Heather D. Gibson. He moved to Greece, and taught at the Athens University of Economics and Business from 1994 to 2010, becoming a professor of economics. Since 2010, he has been a professor of economics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He has written a number of books in both Greek and English and has been published in a range of different academic journals. Due to his upbringing in the UK, he speaks English with a British accent.

A student member of the Communist Party of Greece, Tsakalotos joined Synaspismos in the early 1990s and was elected to the Central Committee of Syriza in 2004 shortly after their formation. He was first elected as a Member of the Hellenic Parliament for Athens B in the May 2012 legislative election and has been re-elected in every election since. In opposition from 2012 to 2015, he was Syriza's shadow finance minister. When Syriza entered government in January 2015, Tsakalotos was appointed as an Alternate Minister within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In April, he took over as head of Greece's negotiating team on the third bailout package. On 6 July 2015, following Yanis Varoufakis's resignation, Tsakalotos was appointed as Minister of Finance. He was re-appointed in September 2015 following the snap legislative election.

Early life and education

Tsakalotos was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in 1960. He is the son of Stefanos Tsakalotos, a civil engineer who worked in the shipping industry, and the family relocated to the United Kingdom in 1965 when the younger Tsakolotos was five years old. He attended St Paul's School, London from 1973 to 1978. In St Paul's School's alumni magazine, he praised his former schoolmaster Keith Perry, saying that the teacher did "much to bolster [his] self-confidence". During his time at the school, he co-founded its Economics and Politics Society (known as Polecon) with his close friend Owen Tudor, who now works for the Trades Union Congress.

Tsakalotos went on to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at The Queen's College, Oxford. Whilst at the Queen's College, Tsakalotos was an admirer of both G. A. Cohen and Andrew Glyn, a Marxist political philosopher and Marxian economist respectively, who both taught at the university. He also took part in student protests against Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government. During his time at university, he became a supporter of Irish republicanism, a view he expressed in his visit to the Sinn Féin ardfheis in March 2015. One of his university friends at this time, Yannis Stournaras, later became a Greek finance minister and served as Governor of the Bank of Greece. Following graduation, he completed a master's degree (MPhil) at the Institute of Development Studies, attached to the University of Sussex. He then returned to Oxford to complete a doctorate (DPhil) in economics, studying at Mansfield College. He completed this doctorate in 1989 under the supervision of Włodzimierz Brus, with his thesis, Alternative Economic Strategies: The Case of Greece, later being published as a book.

Academic career

After the completion of his doctorate, Tsakalotos entered into an academic career. His first role was as a research associate at the University of Kent, from 1989 to 1990. From October 1990 to June 1993, he taught at the university as a lecturer. In 1993, Tsakalotos and his wife moved to Greece, and in October 1994 he began teaching at the Athens University of Economics and Business. In September 2010, he became a full professor of economics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, more commonly referred to simply as the University of Athens.

In his capacity as an academic, Tsakalotos served as a member of the executive committee of the Hellenic Federation of University Teachers' Associations (POSDEP). In the mid-2000s, Tsakalotos led his students in a several months-long protest against proposed reforms to the Greek education system. Thanos Tsouknidas, an accountant that knew Tsakalotos at the time, said: "He was there, involved in the struggle. We were fighting together." His active role in the teachers' union brought him popularity, and according to a former student, his classes were often packed.

Tsakalotos has written a number of books and articles on Greek and international economic policies, alone and in cooperation with other academics and writers. He has co-authored a number of works with his wife, who has also served as editor for some of the works that he has written alone.

Early political career

As a student at the University of Oxford, Tsakalotos joined the Communist Party of Greece (Interior), a eurocommunist party that had split from the main Communist Party of Greece, a Marxist–Leninist party, in 1968. In the early 1990s, shortly after moving to Greece, Tsakalotos became a member of Synaspismos, a radical left-wing political party, which was to become the largest constituent party of Syriza. Syriza itself was formed in 2004, ahead of that year's legislative election, as a coalition of 13 left-wing political parties in Greece. Tsakalotos was elected to their Central Committee in December 2004. However, he also remained a prominent member of Synaspismos and served on both their Central Political Committee and their Political Secretariat until a July 2013 party congress, during which Syriza voted to become an independent political party and for all component parties to disband, including Synaspismos.

Shortly after Syriza was formed, Tsakalotos stood as their candidate for the prefecture of Preveza in the 2004 legislative election. The Greek government-debt crisis effectively began in 2009 and was a backdrop for Tsakalotos' involvement in the creation of Syriza's economic policy. Tsakalotos has been credited as the "brains behind" the policy, and as a member of Syriza's "economics quartet", alongside John Milios, Giorgos Stathakis and Yannis Dragasakis. He has also been credited as one author of Syriza's Thessaloniki Programme, a manifesto which proposed a set of policies oriented towards reversing austerity measures while maintaining a balanced budget.

In opposition (2012–2015)

In the May 2012 legislative election, Tsakalotos was elected as a Member of the Hellenic Parliament (MP) representing Athens B, the largest electoral district in Greece. The election saw Syriza win 16.8% of the vote, placing second behind New Democracy, who won 18.8% of the vote, and ahead of PASOK, with 13%. Alexis Tsipras, the party leader, was unable to form a coalition, but also refused to enter into one with PASOK, forcing the country to new elections in June 2012, where Tsakalotos won re-election as an MP. Tsakalotos said that Syriza had a focus on the European Union, and told The New York Times that a Europe imposing austerity on its citizens for the actions of banks "isn't the Europe that the original inspirators of Europe imagined". New Democracy won a plurality of seats in June 2012…