Giorgos Pavlidis ( el, Γιώργος Παυλίδης; 1956 – 20 October 2016) was a Greek politician of

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 ...

. The long-standing Prefect of Xanthi was narrowly defeated in the 2010 local election, but was elected Governor of the region of

Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Eastern Macedonia and Thrace ( el, Ανατολική Μακεδονία και Θράκη, translit=Anatolikí Makedonía ke Thráki, ) is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It consists of the northeastern parts of the coun ...

in the subsequent 2014 election.

Biography

Born 1956, Giorgos Pavlidis studied at

Democritus University of Thrace The Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH; el, Δημοκρίτειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θράκης), established in July 1973, is based in Komotini, Greece and has campuses in the Thracian cities of Xanthi, Komotini, Alexandroupoli and O ...

graduating in law. Following his studies, he practised as a criminal defense lawyer and later contended for the rights of syndicalists, workers and farmers. He was for the first time elected a member of the prefectural council of Xanthi in 1985, served in the local government since 1998. Running on a platform named "Renaissance" () and supported by

, he was elected Prefect of

Xanthi Xanthi ( el, Ξάνθη, ''Xánthi'', ) is a city in the region of Western Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Xanthi regional unit of the region of East Macedonia and Thrace. Amphitheatrically built on the foot of Rhodope m ...

in the 1998 prefectural election, to be reelected in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

. In 2004 Pavlidis initiated the

Cross-border cooperation Cross-border cooperation is the collaboration between adjacent areas across borders. In the European Union this is one of the forms of territorial cooperation (in addition to transnational and interregional cooperation). The European model is very ...

network of neighboring Greek, Bulgarian and Turkish prefectures, based in

Orestiada Orestiada ( el, Ορεστιάδα, formerly , ''Nea Orestiás''), is the northeasternmost, northernmost and newest city of Greece and the second largest town of the Evros regional unit of Thrace. Founded by Greek refugees from Edirne after the ...

. Nominated by the Union of Prefectural Administrations of Greece, Pavlidis has been the head of the Greek delegation to the

Congress of the Council of Europe The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities is the pan-European political assembly representing local and regional authorities from the forty-six member states of the Council of Europe. Its role is to promote local and regional democracy, imp ...

from 2007 until 2012, where he affiliates with the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...

group. When in 2010 Greek prefectures were set to be abolished as part of the

Kallikratis reform The Kallikratis Programme ( el, Πρόγραμμα Καλλικράτης, Prógramma Kallikrátis) is the common name of Greek law 3852/2010 of 2010, a major administrative reform in Greece. It brought about the second major reform of the count ...

, he contended the 2010 regional election but was narrowly defeated by the prefect of Rodopi, Aris Giannakidis. In the subsequent 2014 regional election, he however clearly defeated the incumbent Giannakidis with 56.34% in the second round. He died of cancer on 20 October 2016, aged 60.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pavlidis, Giorgos 1956 births 2016 deaths 20th-century Greek lawyers Democritus University of Thrace alumni Prefects of Xanthi Regional governors of Greece