Profile: George Papandreou

George Papandreou, leader of Greece's Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok), is the scion of Greece's premier socialist dynasty.

The son and grandson of two former prime ministers, his surname harks back to old times, but the 57-year-old needs a radical new plan to overhaul Greece's financial woes.

Speaking in Athens after his party's emphatic victory - one of the worst electoral defeats for the conservatives - Mr Papandreou promised to revive the country's ailing economy with a 3bn-euro ($4.4bn: £2.7bn) stimulus package.

He is committed to transforming the country so that well-educated, enterprising Greeks no longer feel they have to move abroad to achieve success.

He has promised to root out government corruption and boost public investment.

He replaced former Prime Minister Costas Simitis as Pasok's leader in 2004.

Despite the personal popularity of its new leader extending beyond grassroots socialists, Pasok lost that year's general elections.

Pasok had ruled Greece for almost 20 years but its old guard was tainted by allegations of sleaze and complacency. In opposition, Mr Papandreou pledged to clean Pasok's house.

US education

Last month he said that "if Greece had gone through a very normal political life, I may have not been in politics".

"But just the fact that I lived through huge upheavals and very difficult struggles and polarisation and the barbarism of dictatorships - that made me feel that we had to change this country."

Mr Papandreou is said to be a calm, thoughtful and diplomatic politician, in contrast to the flamboyant personalities of his father Andreas and grandfather George.

"I know very well the great potential of this country - potential that is being drowned by corruption, favouritism, lawlessness and waste"

George senior was prime minister of Greece twice.

His son Andreas was exiled from Greece in 1939 and went to the United States, where Mr Papandreou was born to an American mother in 1952.

Mr Papandreou attended schools in Illinois, Sweden and Canada and received degrees from Amherst College, the London School of Economics and Harvard University.

He speaks English, Greek and Swedish.

He returned to Greece after the restoration of democracy in 1974 and became involved with his father's party.

Mr Papandreou rose through the ranks of Pasok and was elected to parliament in 1981, the same year his father was elected prime minister.

Breaking the mould?

After a number of ministerial posts, George Papandreou was appointed foreign minister in 1999. He was also the minister responsible for the successful bid for 2004 Olympic Games.

As foreign minister, he helped ease long-standing tensions with neighbouring Turkey and improved relations with old rivals Albania and Bulgaria.

Mr Papandreou was also closely involved in the efforts to end the division of Cyprus ahead of the island joining the European Union in 2004. In the end, the Republic of Cyprus did join the EU, but the Turkish-speaking north, not recognised internationally, remains outside.

Until the election, opinion polls had always belittled Mr Papandreou as lacking leadership skills, says the BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens.

In the past, Greeks had elected macho figures as prime ministers who wrapped themselves in the blue and white flag of the fatherland, our correspondent adds.

George Papandreou breaks that traditional mould and now has a comfortable majority in Parliament with which to prove his doubters wrong.

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