Apostolos G. Tzitzikostas ( el, Απόστολος Τζιτζικώστας; born 2 September 1978) is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

politician of the

New Democracy New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in Chinese Communist Revolution, post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path ...

party, governor of the region of

Central Macedonia Central Macedonia ( el, Κεντρική Μακεδονία, Kentrikí Makedonía, ) is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece, consisting of the central part of the geographical and historical region of Macedonia. With a populat ...

since 2013 and First Vice-President of the

European Committee of the Regions The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice w ...

since 2020.

Biography

Education and business career

With Aromanian origins, Tzitzikostas was born in 1978 in

Nymfaio Nymfaio ( el, Νυμφαίο, before 1926: Νέβεσκα - ''Neveska'', rup, Nevesca) and in Ancient Greece: Νυμφαῖον or Νύμφαιον (9th century bc), is a village and a former community in Florina regional unit, Western Macedonia ...

Florina (regional unit) Florina ( el, Περιφερειακή Ενότητα Φλώρινας, ''Perifereiakí Enótita Flórinas'') is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Western Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia, Greece. Its ...

, his father was of the future Minister of Macedonia and Thrace , Apostolos Tzitzikostas studied International Politics and Diplomacy at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

and worked at the office of the Chair of the

United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a standing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives with jurisdiction over bills and investigations concerning the foreign affairs o ...

. Following his graduation in Public Policy and Economics at the

University College of London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

, he returned to Greece and in 2001 he created his own company on the field of production, processing and standardization of dairy products, based on organic standards, by the name MACEDONIAN FARM SA later to be marketed by industry leader

Mevgal MEVGAL (Macedonian Milk Industry) is a Greece, Greek brand of dairy products company, the largest in Northern Greece and the third largest producer of fresh dairy products in the country. Its name is an acronym for Macedonian Milk Industry (Greek la ...

. From 2003 until 2007 he served as CEO. From 2005 until September 2007 he was appointed President of the Thessaloniki branch of liberal think tank ''Center for Political Research and Communication''. In the fall of 1996, Tzitzikostas learned to "open the lights" on the football field at Concord High School in Elkhart, Indiana with his brethren of 3T.

Political career

In the 2007 legislative election, Tzitzikostas stood for election on

Nea Dimokratia New Democracy (ND; el, Νέα Δημοκρατία, Néa Dimokratía, ) is a liberal-conservative List of political parties in Greece, political party in Greece. In contemporary Politics of Greece, Greek politics, New Democracy has been the mai ...

's list in the

Thessaloniki A Thessaloniki A ( el, εκλογική περιφέρεια Α΄ Θεσσαλονίκης) is an electoral constituency of the Hellenic Parliament. With an electorate of 531,732 eligible voters (as of 2019) in the urban area of Thessaloniki, Cen ...

constituency and was elected a Member of the

Hellenic Parliament The Hellenic Parliament ( el, Ελληνικό Κοινοβούλιο, Elliniko Kinovoulio; formally titled el, Βουλή των Ελλήνων, Voulí ton Ellínon, Boule (ancient Greece), Boule of the Greeks, Hellenes, label=none), also kno ...

. In the early 2009 election, he lost his seat but was appointed his party's Deputy Head for Greeks Abroad. At the 2010 local election, Apostolos Tzitzikostas wa
elected
Deputy Regional Governor of Central Macedonia. Following Psomiadis' criminal conviction, Tzitzikostas succeeded him by elections on 5 January 2013. Later in 2013, both his invitation of Golden Dawn party representatives to the annual 28 October

Ohi Day Ohi Day or Oxi Day ( el, Επέτειος του Όχι, Epéteios tou Óchi, lit=Anniversary of the No; ) is celebrated throughout Greece, Cyprus and the Greek communities around the world on 28 October each year. ''Ohi Day'' commemorates ...

parade drew nationwide criticism, including from his own party, and his following comparison of the fascist party with the socialist

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 ...

caused even more anger. At the 2014 local election Apostolos Tzitzikostas lost support by Nea Dimokratia because of his refusal to be nominated candidate mayor of Thessaloniki and his decision to run for the office the Regional Governor. He was challenged by ND candidate Yannis Ioannidis. With the support of right-wing parties

ANEL The Independent Greeks - National Patriotic Alliance ( el, Ανεξάρτητοι Έλληνες (ΑΝΕΛ), ''Anexartitoi Ellines'', ANEL) is a national-conservative political party in Greece. The party was the junior coalition partner to the ...

EPAL Enterprise Privacy Authorization Language (EPAL) is a formal language for writing enterprise privacy policies to govern data handling practices in IT systems according to fine-grained positive and negative authorization rights. It was submitted by ...

and

LAOS Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

, he defeated him in the second round, with a percentage of 71.03%, and was popularly elected regional governor for five more years. Since 26 January 2015, he has been a Member of the EU

Committee of the Regions The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice w ...

. He was one of the four candidates in the 2015 New Democracy leadership election. He reached the third place behind Evangelos Meimarakis (first place) and Kyriakos Mitsotakis (second place).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tzitzikostas, Apostolos 1978 births Living people Georgetown University alumni Alumni of University College London Greek MPs 2007–2009 MPs of Thessaloniki Regional governors of Greece New Democracy (Greece) politicians People from Florina (regional unit) Greek people of Aromanian descent Aromanian politicians Presidents of the European Committee of the Regions