George Papaconstantinou was born in Athens in 1961, and studied economics in the UK and the US, obtaining a Ph.D from the London School of Economics. After working for 10 years at the OECD in Paris, he returned to Greece to serve in a policy advisory capacity for the Greek government. In 2007, he was elected to the Greek Parliament, and in 2009 to the European Parliament. In October 2009 he was appointed Finance Minister in the newly formed government of George Papandreou. From that position he