Spyridon-Adonis Georgiadis ( el, Σπυρίδων-Άδωνις Γεωργιάδης; born 6 November 1972
), better known as Adonis Georgiadis, is a Greek right-wing populist politician, telemarketer and publisher. A former member of the
Popular Orthodox Rally
The Popular Orthodox Rally or People's Orthodox Alarm ( Greek: Λαϊκός Ορθόδοξος Συναγερμός, ''Laikós Orthódoxos Synagermós''), often abbreviated to LAOS (ΛΑ.Ο.Σ.) as a pun on the Greek word for ''people'', is a G ...
, he currently is the vice-president of
New Democracy
New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path that was decisively distinc ...
and serving as the
Minister for Development and Investment in the
Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis
The Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis was sworn in on 9 July 2019, following the Greek legislative election in July 2019. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, leader of New Democracy, was sworn in as Prime Minister of Greece on 8 July.
The government consists of ...
since 2019. He previously served as
Deputy Minister for Development, Competitiveness and Shipping in the
Cabinet of Lucas Papademos
The Cabinet of Lucas Papademos succeeded the cabinet of George Papandreou, as an interim three-party coalition cabinet, leading a coalition government formed by the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) party, New Democracy party and Popular O ...
from 2011 to 2012, and
Minister for Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services.
Some governments have separate ministers for mental health.
Coun ...
in the
Cabinet of Antonis Samaras
The Cabinet of Antonis Samaras succeeded the Caretaker Cabinet of Panagiotis Pikrammenos after the repeated legislative elections in May and June 2012. It was sworn in on Thursday, 21 June 2012. The former ministries of Shipping, Tourism and ...
from 2013 to 2014.
Early career
Georgiadis started working at his father's bookstore at the age of 15. He graduated from the Department of History and Archaeology of the Faculty of Philosophy of the
University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...
.
[Georgiadis CV at the Hellenic Parliament](_blank)
/ref>
Political career
Georgiadis entered to the Popular Orthodox Rally
The Popular Orthodox Rally or People's Orthodox Alarm ( Greek: Λαϊκός Ορθόδοξος Συναγερμός, ''Laikós Orthódoxos Synagermós''), often abbreviated to LAOS (ΛΑ.Ο.Σ.) as a pun on the Greek word for ''people'', is a G ...
in 2003. From December 2003 until August 2007 he served as the spokesman for the Popular Orthodox Rally
The Popular Orthodox Rally or People's Orthodox Alarm ( Greek: Λαϊκός Ορθόδοξος Συναγερμός, ''Laikós Orthódoxos Synagermós''), often abbreviated to LAOS (ΛΑ.Ο.Σ.) as a pun on the Greek word for ''people'', is a G ...
. Georgiadis ran for the office of the Prefect of Athens in the 2006 elections and on September 16, 2007, was elected a Member of the Greek parliament. He was re-elected on October 4, 2009, for Athens Β. In November 2010 he was LAOS' candidate peripheral governor for Attica at the Municipal & Prefectural elections.
On 11 November 2011, Georgiadis was appointed Deputy Minister for Development, Competitiveness and Shipping in the coalition government of Lucas Papademos
Lucas Demetrios Papademos ( el, Λουκάς Παπαδήμος; born 11 October 1947) is a Greek economist and academic who served as 12th Prime Minister of Greece from November 2011 to May 2012, leading a national unity government in the wake o ...
. He resigned on February 11, 2012. On February 13, he was crossed out of the parliamentary team of LAOS due to voting in favor of the Second Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece
The Second Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece, usually referred to as the second bailout package or the second memorandum, is a memorandum of understanding on financial assistance to the Hellenic Republic in order to cope with the Greek go ...
, against the party line.
On 17 February 2012 Georgiadis joined New Democracy
New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path that was decisively distinc ...
, having first given up his parliamentary seat to LAOS. He has since been elected a Member of Parliament, representing Athens B
Athens B (Athens Beta; el, Β΄ Αθηνών) was a parliamentary constituency in Attica represented in the Hellenic Parliament. It covered a large part of urban area of Athens outside the Municipality of Athens, which forms the Athens A const ...
, in the May 2012, June 2012 and January 2015 elections.
He was appointed Minister for Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services.
Some governments have separate ministers for mental health.
Coun ...
from June 2013 and served until June 2014. In September 2014 Georgiadis was appointed Parliamentary Spokesman for New Democracy. In the elections of January 2015 he was elected in the 2nd district of Athens with 70.853 votes and he was reelected in the September
September is the ninth month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars, the third of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the fourth of five months to have a length of fewer than 31 days. September in the Northern H ...
elections.
He was one of the four candidates in the 2015–16 New Democracy leadership election. He campaigned for liberal reforms, tax cuts and cut of public spending and for an ideological battle with the Left, which he considers that it has an ideological hegemony. In the first round he got 11.40% (46,065 votes) and finished fourth out of four. In the second round he supported Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who won the elections and became new President of New Democracy. On 18 January, he was appointed as one of the two vice-presidents of the party.
Television
Georgiadis often appeared on TeleAsty news programmes, a TV channel founded and run by LAOS' leader Georgios Karatzaferis, expressing the opinions of his party. On his daily programme Ellinon Egersis (Greek Uprising; Greek: Ελλήνων Έγερσις) on TeleAsty, along with his brother Leonidas
Leonidas I (; grc-gre, Λεωνίδας; died 19 September 480 BC) was a List of kings of Sparta#Heraclids, king of the Greek city-state of Sparta, and the 17th of the List of kings of Sparta#Agiad dynasty, Agiad line, a dynasty which claimed d ...
he commented on current affairs, and advertised books of mainly historical and philological interest, both from his family publishing house Ekdoseis Georgiadi and other Greek publishers. He also publishes the magazine Elliniki Agogi (Greek Upbringing; Greek: Ελληνική Αγωγή), which covers issues of national and historical interest. An organization under the same name of Elliniki Agogi runs lessons of the Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
language.
Author
Georgiadis has written ''Homosexuality in Ancient Greece: the Myth Collapses'' in which he argues that whereas homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...
was present in Ancient Greece as in other countries, its extent and social acceptance have been inflated. In a 2015 TV show discussing his book, he claimed that "homosexuality did not exist in Ancient Greece". He had also previously written a ''Guide to Ancient Greek Coins''.
He has also written the historical novel ''Theodora Phranza: or, the Fall of Constantinople''. Greek journalist Tasos Kostopoulos has claimed that this book is the product of plagiarism of a 19th-century English book by John Mason Neale
John Mason Neale (24 January 1818 – 6 August 1866) was an English Anglican priest, scholar and hymnwriter. He worked and wrote on a wide range of holy Christian texts, including obscure medieval hymns, both Western and Eastern. Among his most ...
. Moreover, according to Kostopoulos, Georgiadis added some characters to the English original, including Bartholomew, a Jewish advisor to the Sultan Mehmet. In the book, Bartholomew has the following dialogue with the Sultan: "You are a really valuable advisor. Had it not been for your advice, I do not know whether I would be here now, besieging Constantinople. You must really hate the Greeks, since you work so relentlessly for their destruction." To which the Jew answers: "I hate them! Nobody in the world will be happier than I when Constantinople will fall to your hands." Kostopoulos´ claims were supported by a number of Greek journalists. Georgiadis reply was that he had never hidden he had adapted a previous work.
Other activities
* European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2019)
Political positions
Georgiadis' speaking style might have a nuance of the more formal katharevousa
Katharevousa ( el, Καθαρεύουσα, , literally "purifying anguage) is a conservative form of the Modern Greek language conceived in the late 18th century as both a literary language and a compromise between Ancient Greek and the contempor ...
. He also advocates the use of the polytonic
Greek orthography has used a variety of diacritics starting in the Hellenistic period. The more complex polytonic orthography ( el, πολυτονικό σύστημα γραφής, translit=polytonikó sýstīma grafī́s), which includes fiv ...
system for writing the Greek language; '' Elliniki Agogi'' is written in this system, which is not the prevailing practice in Greek publishing from the 1980s. Georgiadis has called for more research to investigate whether the introduction of the monotonic
In mathematics, a monotonic function (or monotone function) is a function between ordered sets that preserves or reverses the given order. This concept first arose in calculus, and was later generalized to the more abstract setting of ord ...
system was beneficial or not to the Greek culture and education. Once appointed Deputy Minister for Development, Competitiveness and Shipping he changed the signs at his ministry to conform to the polytonic system.
Georgiadis often condemns the opinions expressed in left-wing publications such as Eleftherotypia
''Eleftherotypia'' ( el, Ελευθεροτυπία, lit=freedom of the press) was a daily national newspaper published in Athens, Greece.
Published since 21 July 1975, it was the first newspaper to appear after the fall of the Regime of the ...
or by left-wing politicians such as those of Syriza, with both parties having exchanged sharp-tongued criticism. He also routinely condemned the policies of the two former leading Greek parties, New Democracy
New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path that was decisively distinc ...
and the Panhellenic Socialist Movement
The Panhellenic Socialist Movement ( el, Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Κίνημα, Panellínio Sosialistikó Kínima, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK, (; , ) is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012, it ...
, which he viewed as two sides of the same coin. He has often used the term ''tholokoultoura'' (Greek: θολοκουλτούρα; hazy-culture) to group his left-wing ideological opponents:
He often states that the destruction of the Greek economy and Greek society began in 1981 with the election of Andreas Papandreou
Andreas Georgiou Papandreou ( el, Ανδρέας Γεωργίου Παπανδρέου, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics, known for founding the political party PASOK, ...
as PM and the party of PASOK
The Panhellenic Socialist Movement ( el, Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Κίνημα, Panellínio Sosialistikó Kínima, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK, (; , ) is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012, it ...
.
During the recent 2015-16 New Democracy leadership election, he accused Syriza of being "a second-time PASOK". He described himself as "liberal" in economic matters, while often stated that is necessary to break the "hegemony of the Left on the ideas" inside the Greek society. He stated "I want to be in Greece, what Nicolas Sarkozy is in France", while rejected the policies of Marine Le Pen and her euroscepticism
Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek refor ...
as anti-European.
Another case of criticism to the Left from Georgiadis' side is about the educational system, and especially the universities
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...
system. According to him, the leftists dominate the Greek universities. He has many times expressed his will for the abolition of the "university asylum
Asylum may refer to:
Types of asylum
* Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome
* Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute
* Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea
...
" (laws that forbid to the Greek police the entry to a Greek university), stating that it is only a tool for the anarchists
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...
to burn and destroy the Greek universities.
Georgiadis is in favour of putting an end to Greece's "eternal students", people who have been enrolled at university for years without graduating. However, he came under attack from Greek media when in December 2012 it became known that he had earned his degree at the age of 31.
Controversy
Georgiadis, in the past, has been accused of "troubling remarks about Jews and his public promotion of an anti-Semitic book by a pro-claimed anti-semite". Georgiadis has countered that he sells these books like other Greek bookstores, saying that he disagrees with their content. In October 2015, when he was a candidate for New Democracy, he described "my engagement with the Plevris Book of the Jews" "the biggest mistake of my political career to date," but he said he never was an anti-Semite. In January 2017, at the Holocaust memorial day, he publicly apologized for tolerating the views of people who showed disrespect to Greek Jews
The history of the Jews in Greece can be traced back to at least the fourth century BCE. The oldest and the most characteristic Jewish group that has inhabited Greece are the Romaniotes, also known as "Greek Jews." The term "Greek Jew" is pred ...
, for supporting and promoting the anti-semitic book of Konstantinos Plevris “''Jews: The Whole Truth''” and for his friendly relations with him.
Regarding the Athens Polytechnic Uprising, Georgiadis has claimed that "there was no one dead inside the Polytechnic School
Polytechnic School, often referred to simply as Poly, is a college preparatory private day school located in Pasadena, California with approximately 850 students enrolled in grades Kindergarten through 12.
The school is a former member of the ...
, not a single one! The Polytechnic Uprising is the foundational political myth of the ideological domination of the Left in Greece. They got the police report of the previous day, of the same day and of the next day and whoever died in Attica of whatever reason became a victim of snipers." His statements have been criticized by the media. Syriza has called Georgiadis's claims an "ahistorical abjection".
On 16 November 2017, Georgiadis announced that he would cease working as a telemarketer
Telemarketing (sometimes known as inside sales, or telesales in the UK and Ireland) is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits prospective customers to buy products or services, either over the phone or through a subsequen ...
. A few days earlier he came under intense criticism after it was revealed that the healing effects supposedly provided by the nanotechnological jackets that he was promoting were in fact void and based on pseudoscience
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable clai ...
. Fellow telemarketer Makis Triandafillopoulos had been previously convicted of fraud for selling exactly the same model of nano jackets following an investigation by the Greek consumer protection agency.
On February 1, 2021, Georgiadis mocked the move of the restaurant businessmen to hand over the keys of their shops to the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis who with one of the most extreme quarantines for COVID-19 in the world has banned the operation of these businesses for months. More specifically, Georgiadis told SKAI TV that any restaurant businessman can hand over the keys and his own business to him in order to operate it.
In May 2021, Georgiadis in a TV appearance supported the distinctions between Greek citizens and tourists regarding the observance of the measures against COVID-19. More specifically, Georgiadis stated that the traffic restrictions in Greece may apply after May 15, 2021, when tourism opens in the country, but that these restrictions will apply only to Greek citizens and not to tourists.
Attacks against Georgiadis' bookstore
One of the bookstores of Georgiadis publishers (Ekdoseis Georgiadi), in the Exarcheia
Exarcheia ( ) is a community in central Athens, Greece close to the historical building of the National Technical University of Athens. Exarcheia took its name from a 19th century businessman named Exarchos (Greek: Έξαρχος) who opened a lar ...
district of Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, has been targeted and burnt 17 times by unidentified far-leftist opponents. Georgiadis has since moved this bookstore, stating that he did so to protect the anti-riot police that was tasked to protect his business. Nonetheless, a different bookstore of the same publisher was targeted on 15 February 2007, the eighth attack against bookstores of Ekdoseis Georgiadi. In November 2012, Georgiadis closed down his bookshop.
Personal life
He is married to classical composer and reality TV celebrity Eugenia Manolidou
Eugenia Karagiannidou ( el, Ευγενία Καραγιαννίδου), better known as Eugenia Manolidou (Μανωλίδου) or Manolides, is a Greek classical composer, conductor, entertainment television presenter and is married to politici ...
raising a son and a daughter from her previous marriage, and two own sons named Athanasios-Perseas born 2009Official brief bio of Adonis Georgiadis
. Adonisgeorgiadis.gr. Retrieved on 2012-01-05. and Alkaios-Anastasios, born 2014.
References
Sources
*
External links
*
*
Elliniki Agogi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Georgiadis, Adonis
1972 births
Government ministers of Greece
Greek anti-communists
Greek nationalists
National liberalism
Greek MPs 2007–2009
Greek MPs 2009–2012
Greek MPs 2012 (May)
Greek MPs 2012–2014
Greek MPs 2015 (February–August)
Greek MPs 2015–2019
Greek MPs 2019–2023
Living people
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni
New Democracy (Greece) politicians
Popular Orthodox Rally politicians
Critics of atheism
Politicians from Athens
Health ministers of Greece