Giannis Plakiotakis ( el, Γιάννης Πλακιωτάκης; born 10 July 1968) is a Greek politician who served as the acting 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 Chinese Communist Revolution, post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path ...

following the resignation of

Vangelis Meimarakis Evangelos-Vasileios "Vangelis" Meimarakis ( el, Ευάγγελος-Βασίλειος "Βαγγέλης" Μεϊμαράκης, ; born 14 December 1953), is a Greek lawyer and politician who served as the acting President of New Democracy and Leade ...

. He has been 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 ...

(MP) for

Lasithi Lasithi ( el, Λασίθι) is the easternmost regional unit on the island of Crete, to the east of Heraklion. Its capital is Agios Nikolaos, the other major towns being Ierapetra and Sitia. The mountains include the Dikti in the west and the Thr ...

since 2004.

Early life and education

Plakiotakis was born in

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 ...

and studied

biochemical engineering Biochemical engineering, also known as bioprocess engineering, is a field of study with roots stemming from chemical engineering and biological engineering. It mainly deals with the design, construction, and advancement of unit processes that inv ...

at the

University of Wales The University of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Prifysgol Cymru'') is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff � ...

. He then completed a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in biochemical engineering at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

before completing another master's degree in business administration at

City University London City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...

Political career

Plakiotakis has been a member of

since 1987. He was a municipal advisor for the

Sitia Sitia ( el, Σητεία) is a port town and a municipality in Lasithi, Crete, Greece. The town has 9,912 inhabitants (2011) and the municipality has 18,318 (2011). It lies east of Agios Nikolaos and northeast of Ierapetra. Sitia port is on the ...

municipality from 1990 to 2002. He was first elected as a New Democracy Member of the

for

in 2004, being re-elected in every election since. In October 2007, Plakiotakis was appointed as a Deputy Minister for National Defence. In 2015, he was the secretary of the New Democracy parliamentary group. On 24 November 2015,

appointed Plakiotakis as a Vice President of New Democracy whilst he considered whether or not to resign. Later that day, Meimarakis resigned, appointing Plakiotakis as the interim President of the party until the conclusion of the New Democracy leadership election.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Plakiotakis, Giannis 1968 births Greek MPs 2004–2007 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 Leaders of New Democracy (Greece) Living people New Democracy (Greece) politicians Politicians from Athens Greek biochemists Alumni of the University of Wales Alumni of City, University of London