Panagiotis Kouroumblis ( el, Παναγιώτης Κουρουμπλής; born 2 October 1951) 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 Syriza. On 27 January 2015 he was appointed the Minister for Health and Social Solidarity in the

First Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras Following his victory in legislative elections held on 25 January 2015, the newly elected Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras appointed a new cabinet to succeed the cabinet of Antonis Samaras, his predecessor. A significant reshuffle took place on 1 ...

. On 23 September 2015, he became the Minister of the Interior and Administrative Reconstruction in the

Second Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras The Second Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras was sworn in on 23 September 2015, following the Greek legislative election in September 2015. Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza, was sworn in as Prime Minister of Greece on 21 September, having agreed to re- ...

Early life

Blinded at age 10 from the explosion of a German

hand-grenade A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade genera ...

, a remnant of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Kouroumblis took part in a number of student and popular struggles, and eventually became the leader of a "social uprising" of the blind. He is a founding member of the

World Blind Union The World Blind Union (WBU) is an international organization representing the estimated 2.2 billion people worldwide who are blind or partially sighted. It consists of other organizations, not individuals. History, scope, and organization The Wo ...

and worked more generally in the areas of children protection, care for the elderly and people with disabilities.

Political career

In 1996 parliamentary election, Kouroumblis became the first blind Member of the Hellenic Parliament. He was reelected in 2000 and again in 2009. In 2011, he left

Panhellenic Socialist Movement 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 ...

(PASOK) to found the anti- austerity Unitary Movement that in 2013 ultimately merged into Syriza. Following Syriza's victory in the January 2015 legislative election, he was appointed Minister for Health and Social Solidarity, becoming the first disabled person to take any public office at the national government level in Greece.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kouroumblis, Panagiotis 1951 births Living people Blind academics Blind politicians Blind people from Greece 20th-century Greek lawyers PASOK politicians Greek MPs 1996–2000 Greek MPs 2000–2004 Greek MPs 2009–2012 Syriza politicians Greek MPs 2012 (May) Greek MPs 2012–2014 Greek MPs 2015 (February–August) Health ministers of Greece Greek MPs 2015–2019 Ministers of the Interior of Greece People from Aetolia-Acarnania Greek MPs 2019–2023