Early Career
Born in Athens to a family that came from the village of Klenia, Corinthia, Dimas studied law and economics at the University of Athens and went on to gain a master's degree from New York University. In 1969 he began working as a lawyer for a firm on Wall Street, moving to the World Bank the following year. In 1975 he returned to Greece to take up the post of deputy governor of the Hellenic Industrial Development Bank.
From 1977 he was active in Greek politics as a member of the conservative New Democracy party. He was elected to the Greek parliament ten consecutive times from that year. From the outset he was involved in Greece's accession negotiations with the European Union. He went on to hold a variety of ministerial and other political positions:
- Deputy Minister of Economic Coordination (1977–1980)
- Minister of Trade (1980–1981)
- Parliamentary spokesperson for the New Democracy party (1985–1989)
- Minister of Agriculture (1989–1990)
- Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology (1990–1991)
- Secretary-General of New Democracy (1995–2000)
- Senior Member of the Political Analysis Steering Committee of New Democracy (2000–2003)
- Head of the New Democracy delegation to the Council of Europe (2000–2004)
Read more about this topic: Stavros Dimas
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