Panagiotis Kanellopoulos

Panagiotis Kanellopoulos (Greek: Παναγιώτης Κανελλόπουλος (Patra, Achaea, 13 December 1902ndash 11 September 1986) was a distinguished Greek politician and Prime Minister. He was the Prime Minister of Greece deposed by the Greek military junta of 1967-1974.He studied law in Athens, Heidelberg and Munich. Kanellopoulos was an intellectual and author of books about politics, law, sociology, philosophy, etc. His book "I was born in 1402" received a literary award from the Academy of Athens.

He served as Minister of Defence under the Tsouderos government in exile during World War II. In November 1945, he served as Prime Minister for a short period of time. After the war he became Minister for Reconstruction under Georgios Papandreou in a national unity government. He also served in other ministerial posts under Alexandros Diomidis, Constantine Karamanlis and others till 1967 when he became Prime Minister.

On 9 July 1961 Panayiotis Kanellopoulos as Deputy Prime Minister in Konstantinos Karamanlis' government and German Vice-Chancellor Ludwig Erhard signed the protocols of Greece's Treaty of Association with the European Economic Community (EEC). The signing ceremony in Athens was attended by top government officials from the six-member group consisting of Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands. The six member group was the early precursor of today's 25 member European Union. Economy Minister Aristidis Protopapadakis and Foreign Minister Evangelos Averoff were also present at the ceremony as well as Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis.His niece, Amalia married Karamanlis. In 1963 he succeeded Karamanlis as leader of the National Radical Union party (ERE).

He was the last democratically elected Prime Minister prior to the coup d' etat of 21 April 1967. He was placed under house arrest for the next seven years. During the events leading to the "metapolitefsi" (the period of political readjustment following the fall of the military junta), Phaedon Gizikis actively considered giving Kanellopoulos the mandate to form a transitional government. After the "metapolitefsi" Kanellopoulos resumed his parliamentary career as a member of the New Democracy party. He declined offers to become President of Greece when the post was offered to him during the "metapolitefsi".