While largely a figurehead, it is important to recall that it was precisely the failure of the previous cabinet of ND's Samaras to elect a president that led to the collapse of the Greek coalition government and the new general elections which resulted in Syriza's dramatic victory.
Earlier today, it was revealed that Prokopis Pavlopoulos, a "centre-right moderate" will be the government's candidate for president. According to Kathimerini [5], while speaking to SYRIZA's parliamentary group on Tuesday, Tsipras said the decision to nominate the former conservative Interior Minister reflected the need for political and social consensus.
And since ND will endorse the Syriza candidate, Prokopis Pavlopoulos will almost certainly be elected during a vote on Wednesday or Thursday (perhaps just in time to celebrate the ECB's yanking of Greek emergency liquidity access).
So who is he? Well, as noted above, largely a figurehead. Here is Macropolis with a brief blurb [6]:
... Prokopis Pavlopoulos, former Interior Minister and current New Democracy MP. Pavlopoulos has spent the last few years publicly justifying his actions in government. He is one of several staunch defenders of Karamanlis’s handling of the economy. He is at the forefront of those who have argued that Greece was driven into a troika programme by a bungling George Papandreou and not because its public finances went off the rails.
Pavlopoulos has not been held accountable for his actions, despite Mitsotakis’s arguments that this government is introducing greater accountability and transparency. Instead, the former minister has remained a stalwart of his party. So much so, in fact, that when Prime Minister Antonis Samaras announced this week the formation of a party committee to prepare for a review of the Greek Constitution, he chose Pavlopoulos to head the panel.
... but since this is Sparta, er, Greece, it is best to see him in action. He is the gentleman with the white hair.
[7]
h/t @xstefanou [8] [8]
