Vassilis Leventis, born in 1951, is the leader of the Greek centrist party, Union Of Centrists. Vassilis Leventis started his political career in 1974 as a founding father and later MP candidate of PASOK. Having departed from PASOK in the meantime, in a 1992 congress he founded the Union of Centrists, which strove to become "the political continuance of the centrist expression in Greece". Leventis aimed to become part of the legacy of some great politicians of the past, such as Eleftherios Venizelos and George Papandreou, senior. His views are placed in the centre of the political spectrum with particular emphasis on policies that are "rational", transparent, squarely opposed to corruption, in favour of the weaker social classes, hostile to the concentration of power in just a few individuals and reform of the Greek political life. Leventis himself is unreservedly and polemically critical of mainstream Greek political parties and their leaders. He asserts that Greek politicians are in league with big businesses who control the mainstream media.