A European model for social dialogue: Greece's National Social Agreement

Kyriakos Mitsotakis was born in Athens in 1968. He studied Social Studies at Harvard, graduating summa cum laude, earned a Master’s in International Relations at Stanford and an MBA at Harvard Business School. He speaks English, French and German, and authored the book “Straddling the Horns of a Dilemma.” He began in investment banking and strategy consulting for top-tier firms in London. Returning to Greece in the late 1990s, he led private equity and venture capital firms, including NBG Venture Capital as CEO. In 2003, the World Economic Forum recognized him as a “Global Leader for Tomorrow.” Mitsotakis entered public life in late 2003 and was elected to Parliament the following year. He later served as Minister of Administrative Reform and e-Government, overseeing modernization reforms. In January 2016, he became President of Nea Demokratia, which he contemporized by renewing membership and introducing transparency and accountability. He led his party to a landslide victory three years later. In July 2019, he became Prime Minister, winning a new four-year term with an increased electoral majority in June 2023. Under his leadership, Greece regained investment-grade status, restored international confidence, and strengthened its role beyond Europe. The Economist named Greece “Country of the Year” in 2023; he later received the Global Citizen Award and Ludwig Erhard Foundation’s Gold Medal. His COVID-19 management ranked among Europe’s most effective, combining swift action with digital transformation. He pursued reforms in recovery, digital transformation, energy transition, diaspora voting rights, institutions, fiscal responsibility, national security and border control, while advancing Greece’s AI agenda in administration, education and health care. He is married to Mareva Grabowski-Mitsotaki. They have three children, Sophia, Konstantinos and Daphne.

Roxana Mînzatu is the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Preparedness. She leads work to strengthen Europe’s human capital by advancing social rights, closing skills and labour gaps, ensuring quality jobs and fair transitions, promoting education and equality, supporting youth, tackling poverty, and fostering lifelong learning and workforce adaptability. She also guides the work to embed a new culture of preparedness to help people and societies adapt to change and to risks that exist in our society. In June 2024, Ms Mînzatu was elected to the European Parliament. She previously served in the Romanian government as Minister of European Funds and Secretary of State for Programs Financed by Public and European Funds. From 2016 to 2020, Ms Mînzatu was a Member of the Romanian Parliament. In 2015, she was appointed President of the Romanian National Agency for Public Procurement. Her political career began in 2004 as a county councilor in her home county of Brasov, later serving as Deputy Prefect. Ms Mînzatu holds a BA in Political Science (2002) from the University of Bucharest and a Master’s in European Integration (2005) from the University Dimitrie Cantemir.

Niki Kerameus was born on July 18, 1980, in Thessaloniki, Greece. She holds a law degree from Panthéon-Assas University Paris II, a master’s degree in private international law and arbitration from the same university, and an LL.M. in international arbitration from Harvard Law School. A lawyer and member of the Athens and New York Bar Associations, she practiced law in Athens and New York from 2004 to 2019, mainly in civil law and arbitration. Since 2015, she has been an elected Member of the Hellenic Parliament with New Democracy, representing Athens B1 North since 2019. On June 14, 2024, she became Minister of Labour and Social Security. Her key initiatives include the signing of the landmark National Social Agreement with all national social partners, aimed at strengthening collective bargaining, facilitating the extension of collective labour agreements, and promoting better wages and fairer working conditions. She has also advanced the repatriation initiative ReBrain Greece, completed major digitalization projects, and expanded the Digital Labour Card to almost 2.5 million workers across all sectors, reinforcing employee protection and combating undeclared and under-declared work. Previously, she served as Minister of the Interior (2023–2024) and Minister of Education and Religious Affairs (2019–2023), leading reforms in postal voting, public administration, primary and secondary education, university internationalization and vocational training. She is married to lawyer Dimitris Loukas and they have two sons. She is a founding member and the first President of the non-profit foundation Desmos.

Séamus Boland was elected President of the European Economic and Social Committee in October 2025. He has been an EESC Member since 2011. He has held different roles at the Committee, including President of the Civil Society Organizations’ Group (2020-2025) and Vice President of the Civil Society Organisations’ Group (2018-2020). His policy and political interests include the eradication of poverty, social exclusion, rural development and inequality. Séamus has been CEO of Irish Rural Link since 2001, Chair of the Peatlands Council since 2012 and a Board Member of Inland Fisheries Ireland (2018-2022). In October 2024 he was appointed to the Just Transition Commission as an independent expert by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications in Ireland. President Boland is a farmer and has worked in civil society for over 40 years, including with young people, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and people living in rural isolation. He is a trained Speech and Drama Educator.

Dharmendra Kanani is Director of Policy & Programmes and Chief Spokesperson at Friends of Europe. Prior to joining Friends of Europe, Dharmendra was director of policy at the European Foundation Centre (EFC). He was the England director at the Big Lottery Fund, the largest independent funder in the UK and fourth largest in the world. Dharmendra has held senior positions in the public and voluntary sectors and advisor to numerous ministerial policy initiatives across the UK.