On May 3, Harvard students and scholars were joined by former Finance Minister of Greece George Chouliarakis for an off-the-record roundtable.
Chouliarakis, a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government, played a key role in the negotiations which led to Greece’s third economic adjustment program. He visited CES and shared lessons learned from his experiences as negotiator, including the importance of defining, setting and communicating realistic expectations, especially with citizens. He discussed how Greece might have better assessed its bargaining power, leveraged time and re-prioritized debt restructuring. Chouliarakis also presented his views on how the Greek team was finally able to successfully negotiate an agreement that avoided Grexit, restore the country’s credibility and launch its path to recovery.
