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Prime Minister Antonis Samaras announced the nomination of former Greek EU Commissioner Stavros Dimas shortly after his meeting with him in the government residence Maximou.

"He is certainly a person who unites, inspires trust and respect," said the Greek Prime Minister, adding that Dimas is highly appreciated both in Greece and abroad.
 
"We have chosen the best candidate. With him the country will be ready to move to the next day from every point of view," said Samaras.

He expressed confidence that the parliament will support Dimas as president and that "the clouds will clear away and the country will be ready to enter the post-memorandum era". The Greek Prime Minister commented on the decision to speed up the conduct of the presidential elections, stating that the reason for this was the desire to end the uncertainty and to completely restore political stability.

"The presidential elections have recently become a pretext for extortion aimed at the conduct of early elections. In this way and despite the fact that the economy has been stable and we have finally entered a phase of recovery of economic growth, the clouds of political instability in Greece and of the political uncertainty related to Greece’s position abroad have appeared once again."
 
According to Antonis Samaras, yesterday's decision of the eurozone finance ministers on the technical extension of the rescue programme by two months indicates that "Europe realizes that Greece will enter the post-memorandum era."

Government candidate for president of Greece Stavros Dimas was born in Klenia, Corinth area, in 1941. He graduated in law at Athens University and in political science and economics in London and New York.

In the period 1968-1975 he worked at the New York Stock Exchange and later as a senior official at the International Bank of the United Nations, his main scope of activity being investments in the Middle East and Africa.

In 1975 Dimas became Deputy Governor of the Hellenic Industrial Development Bank while being a member of the group negotiating on Greece’s accession to the European Economic Community.

In 1977 he was elected MEP from New Democracy. From 1981 to 1986 he was a regular member of the representation of the Greek Parliament in the Council of Europe.

From October 1985 to June 1989 Stavros Dimas was a parliamentary representative of New Democracy and held various ministerial posts over the following years.

In March 2004 he was appointed Greek EU Commissioner for Employment and Social Policy, and in November the same year as Commissioner for the Environment.

In July 2010 Stavros Dimas was elected Vice-President of New Democracy and from November 2011 to May 2012 Minister of Foreign Affairs in the transitional government of Lucas Papademos.