Konstantinos (Kostis) Hatzidakis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος (Κωστής) Χατζηδάκης; born 20 April 1965 in
Rethymno
Rethymno ( el, Ρέθυμνο, , also ''Rethimno'', ''Rethymnon'', ''Réthymnon'', and ''Rhíthymnos'') is a city in Greece on the island of Crete. It is the capital of Rethymno regional unit, and has a population of more than 30,000 inhabitants ...
) 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
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 ...
who has been serving as the
Minister for Labor and Social Affairs 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 2021. Among other offices, he previously held the post of
Minister for the Environment and Energy
The Australian Minister for the Environment and Water is a position which is currently held by Tanya Plibersek in the Albanese ministry since 1 June 2022, following the Australian federal election in 2022.
In the Government of Australia, the ...
. Within his party, he serves as vice president under Mitsotakis' leadership.
Political career
Hatzidakis was elected President of the
Youth Organisation of New Democracy
The Youth Organisation of New Democracy ( el, Οργάνωση Νέων Νέας Δημοκρατίας, ΟΝΝΕΔ) is the youth organisation of the liberal Greek political party New Democracy. It was founded in 1974 by young members of New Democr ...
(ONNED), serving from 1992 to 1994.
Member of the European Parliament, 1994–2007
Hatzidakis was elected as a
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
(MEP) for New Democracy in the European elections of
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
,
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
and
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
. During his time in parliament from 1994 until 2007, he served on the
Committee on Regional Development The Committee on Regional Development (REGI) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Younous Omarjee
Younous Omarjee (born 30 September 1969 in Saint-Denis, Réunion) is a French politician who ...
. From 2004 until 2005. He was also a member of the Temporary committee on policy challenges and budgetary means of the enlarged Union 2007-2013. In addition to his committee assignments, he was part of the parliament's delegations to the EU-Cyprus Joint Parliamentary Committee (1994–1999); to the parliamentary cooperation committees for relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia (1999–2004); and to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee.
Career in national politics
In the
2007 Greek legislative election
Parliamentary elections were held in Greece on Sunday, 16 September 2007 to elect the 300 members of the Hellenic Parliament. The leading party for a second term was New Democracy under the leadership of Kostas Karamanlis with 42%, followed by Ge ...
, Hatzidakis was elected to 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 ...
for the
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 ...
constituency and consequently resigned from the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
.
Hatzidakis served as
Minister for Transport and Communications from 2007 to 2009 and then as
Minister for Development in 2009.
On 15 December 2010, Hatzidakis was ambushed and assaulted by violent rioters during a general strike at the height of the
Greek government-debt crisis
Greece faced a sovereign debt crisis in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Widely known in the country as The Crisis ( Greek: Η Κρίση), it reached the populace as a series of sudden reforms and austerity measures that ...
.
Minister for the Environment and Energy, 2019–2021
In his capacity as energy minister, Hatzidakis was tasked to work on a rescue plan for state-owned
Public Power Corporation
The Public Power Corporation S.A. ( el, Δημόσια Επιχείρηση Ηλεκτρισμού A.E., translit=Dimosia Epicheirisi Ilektrismou A.E., abbreviated PPC, or DEI InfoCuriaCommission of the European Communities v Hellenic Republic Ca ...
(PPC) which had been struggling with 2.7 billion euros ($2.99 billion) of unpaid bills from customers unable to pay during the country’s financial crisis. From 2020, he also oversaw efforts to liquidate majority state-owned
nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...
producer
LARCO
Larco is an Italian surname.
US Immigration
Between 1860 and 1948, most immigrants named ''Larco'' came from Peru, France, and Italy. Many of them sailed across the Atlantic Ocean on the Santa Elisa. Most Larco immigrants to the U.S. arrived in 1 ...
, another company struggling under heavy debt, and then look for an investor for some of the company’s assets. Under his leadership, Greece also began the sale of a minority stake in PPC-owned power distribution operator
HEDNO and of power grid operator
ADMIE
Independent Power Transmission Operator S.A. (IPTO or ADMIE from "ΑΔΜΗΕ" - Ανεξάρτητος Διαχειριστής Μεταφοράς Ηλεκτρικής Ενέργειας A.E. in Greek language, Greek) is the Transmission System Ope ...
in 2020.
Minister for Labor and Social Affairs, 2021–present
In May 2021, Hatzidakis introduced the government's plans to overhaul Greek labour laws by liberalizing working hours, including by introducing a "digital work card" to monitor employees working hours in real time as well as increasing legal overtime to 150 hours a year.
[Karolina Tagaris (May 12, 2021)]
Greece presents contentious labour reform bill
''Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
''.
References
External links
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1965 births
Living people
Government ministers of Greece
Environment ministers of Greece
Labour ministers of Greece
Ministers of Transport and Communications of Greece
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
MEPs for Greece 1994–1999
MEPs for Greece 1999–2004
MEPs for Greece 2004–2009
New Democracy (Greece) MEPs
New Democracy (Greece) politicians
Politicians from Crete
Alumni of the University of Kent
People from Rethymno
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