Greek economist and politician
Sotirios Sotiropoulos
(
Greek
:
Σωτ?ριο? Σωτηρ?πουλο?
;
Nafplio
, 1831 ?
Athens
, 1898) was a
Greek
economist and politician who briefly served as
Prime Minister of Greece
.
Biography
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]
Sotiropoulos was born in
Nafplio
in 1831. He went to
Athens
to study law at the
University of Athens
, but was forced to interrupt his studies due to illness. Instead he turned to his other passion, Economics.
[1]
In 1853 he was accepted as a tax inspector in the Ministry of Finances, and served in this capacity in various provincial towns. His rise was quick: by 1856 he was department head and soon after general secretary of the Customs Department. From this position he reformed the Customs service and wrote a new set of regulations for it, and suggested other reforms such as the abolition of the
tithe
. For his services,
King Otto
awarded him the Silver Cross of the
Order of the Redeemer
.
[1]
Following the ousting of Otto in 1862, Sotiropoulos entered politics, and was elected as a representative for
Triphylia
in the
II National Assembly
of 1862?64. He served as Finance Minister in the 1864?65
Konstantinos Kanaris
cabinet, and was then nominated for president of the
Court of Audit
, but refused the post and instead focused on his parliamentary career: he was almost repeatedly re-elected from 1865 to 1895.
[1]
A supporter of
Alexandros Koumoundouros
, after the latter's death in 1883, Sotiropoulos served as an independent, criticizing both
Charilaos Trikoupis
and
Theodoros Deligiannis
, the two dominant and rival figures of Greek politics after Koumoundouros' death. In the
1887 elections
he even led his own group of nine MPs.
[1]
During this time, he was elected twice
Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament
, in 1878?79 and 1879?80, and served as Finance Minister in virtually all of Koumoundouros' cabinets (1865, 1870?71, 1875?76, 1880?82) as well as Justice Minister in 1880. His tenure in the Finance Ministry was marked by his personal integrity, a fight against corruption and mismanagement, and an effort to reduce spending and increase revenue.
[1]
In May 1893, after the resignation of Trikoupis due to the country's impending
default
, Sotiropoulos was tapped by
King George I
to form a government as Prime Minister in co-operation with
Dimitrios Rallis
. Sotiropoulos held the Finance Ministry as well in this cabinet, but it proved shot-lived as he was forced to resign a few months later.
[1]
Sotiropoulos died in Athens in 1898.
[1]
Writings
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In 1866, Sotiropoulos was kidnapped and held by brigands for 36 days before he was ransomed for 60,000
drachmas
. He recounted his time with the brigands in his
memoir
Τρι?κοντα εξ ημερ?ν αιχμαλωσ?α και διαβ?ωσι? μετ? των ληστ?ν
("
Thirty-six days captivity and life with the brigands
"),
[1]
translated into English as
The Brigands of the Morea: A Narrative of the Captivity of Mr. S. Soteropoulos
(Saunders, Otley, and Company, 1868).
References
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