Antonis Samaras

Antonis Samaras (, ; born 23 May 1951) is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2012 to 2015. A member of the New Democracy party, he was its president from 2009 until 2015. Samaras started his national political career as Minister of Finance in 1989; he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1989 to 1992 (with a brief interruption in 1990) and Minister of Culture in 2009. Samaras was expelled from the ruling conservative party in November 2024.

In September 1993, two New Democracy MPs defected from the parliamentary group, aligning with Samaras' party, causing Konstantinos Mitsotakis' government to lose its parliamentary majority and resign, triggering new elections. Samaras' role in the government's fall led to a complete rift between the two politicians, Mitsotakis and Samaras. In spite of this, he rejoined the party in 2004 and was elected to its leadership in a closely fought intra-party election in late 2009. He was the seventh party leader since it was founded in 1974.

In the years that followed, he remained a member of parliament representing the region of Messenia, until November 2024 when he was again expelled from the party's parliamentary group and from New Democracy, due to his criticism of the foreign policy of the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Provided by Wikipedia