Speaker

Thanasis Kontogeorgis Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister of Greece Thanasis Kontogeorgis has served as Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister of Greece since June 2023, with primary responsibility the design, coordination, and oversight of the National Strategy for Regional and Local Development. In this capacity, he promotes a comprehensive approach to balanced territorial development, focusing on harnessing the distinct potential of each region, reducing regional disparities, and developing place-based development plans in close cooperation with local authorities, businesses, and social stakeholders. He places particular emphasis on aligning regional development with EU cohesion policy, strengthening competitiveness, addressing demographic challenges, and creating sustainable economic and social opportunities across the country. His responsibilities also include coordinating and monitoring government policies, with a particular focus on advancing reforms and ensuring effective policy implementation. He has played an active role in the design and monitoring of Greece’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, “Greece 2.0”, in the successful completion of the EU Enhanced Surveillance framework in August 2022, in crisis management, and the institutional and operational strengthening of government coordination mechanisms. From 2019 to 2023, he served as Secretary General for Coordination at the Presidency of the Government. During Greece’s economic adjustment programmes and until 2014, he acted as an adviser to the Greek government on legal, public policy, and strategic matters, actively participating in negotiations with the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Central Bank. He is a lawyer admitted to practice before Greece’s Supreme Court and Council of State. He graduated from Athens College and the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and pursued postgraduate studies in Public Policy and Administration at Harvard Kennedy School. He is married and has two children.