Nikos Xydakis ( el, Νίκος Ξυδάκης; born 1958) is a Greek journalist, art critic, and

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

politician. From 27 January to 28 August 2015, he served as the Alternate Minister for Culture in the cabinet of Alexis Tsipras. From 23 September 2015 to 5 November 2016, he served as the Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs.

Biography

Xydakis was born in

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saron ...

in 1958. He studied graphic arts at the

Technological Educational Institute of Athens The Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Athens (TEI ATH; Greek: Ανώτατο Τεχνολογικό Εκπαιδευτικό Ίδρυμα Αθήνας) was a state higher-educational institute in Athens."''The EEC has reached the conclu ...

from 1976 to 1977 before attaining a degree in dentistry from 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 ...

in 1984, where he later went on to pursue postgraduate studies in

history of art The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetic visu ...

from 1998 to 2002. Having joined '' Kathimerini'' in 1992, Xydakis became arts editor of the newspaper in 1999 and subsequently editor-in-chief from 2003 to 2014. He received an award from the Athanassios Botsis Journalism Foundation in 2009. From 2002 to 2005 he was General Secretary of the Greek section of the

International Association of Art Critics The International Association of Art Critics (''Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art'', ''AICA'') was founded in 1950 to revitalize critical discourse, which suffered under Fascism during World War II. Affiliated with UNESCO AICA was ad ...

. In the January 2015 election, Xydakis stood as a candidate for the

Coalition of the Radical Left The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance ( el, Συνασπισμός Ριζοσπαστικής Αριστεράς – Προοδευτική Συμμαχία, Synaspismós Rizospastikís Aristerás – Proodeftikí Simachía), ...

(SYRIZA). He was elected MP 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 following the formation of a Syriza-led coalition government under Alexis Tsipras, Xydakis was appointed Alternate Minister of Culture in the combined Ministry of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs, serving under Aristides Baltas. The Syriza–ANEL coalition resigned on the 20 August 2015 and remained in office until a caretaker cabinet led by

Vassiliki Thanou Vasiliki Thanou-Christophilou ( el, Βασιλική Θάνου-Χριστοφίλου, ; born 3 November 1950), also known as just Vasiliki Thanou, is a Greek judge who served as caretaker Prime Minister of Greece from 27 August to 21 September ...

was appointed. Speaking to the ''

Observer An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment. Observer may also refer to: Computer science and information theory * In information theory, any system which receives information from an object * State observer in co ...

'' before the September 2015 election, Xydakis said: "We have all aged. It seems like years since we were elected, and yet it was only months ago. So much has happened, events have been so big, it has almost been too much for anyone to take in." He was re-elected to parliament for the Athens B electoral district in the second election of 2015, but failed to win re-election at the 2019 election.

References

External links

*
Nikos Xydakis
at the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs (English)
Personal website
(Greek) {{DEFAULTSORT:Xydakis, Nikos 1958 births Writers from Piraeus Living people Greek columnists Government ministers of Greece Syriza politicians Greek MPs 2015 (February–August) Culture ministers of Greece Greek MPs 2015–2019 National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni Politicians from Piraeus