Pavlos Voskopoulos ( el, Παύλος Βοσκόπουλος; born 25 November 1964) or Pavle Voskopulos ( mk, Павле Воскопулос) is a Greek politician, a member of the collective leadership of the Rainbow party that represents the Slavic-speaking minority (identifying as

ethnic Macedonian Macedonians ( mk, Македонци, Makedonci) are a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group native to the region of Macedonia in Southeast Europe. They speak Macedonian, a South Slavic language. The large majority of Macedonians identif ...

) in Greek Macedonia.

Background

Voskopoulos, an ethnic Macedonian, was born in 1964 in Florina, Greece, to a

Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North M ...

-speaking family. He also uses the Slavic patronymic Filipov (Филипов), his family's traditional name, which was changed to Voskopoulos (his application to change back was rejected by the Greek government). He is first cousins with Mayor of Florina, Ioannis Voskopoulos who has a strong Greek identity. In 1988 he finished an Architect's degree in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

, Yugoslavia. In 1989 he helped to found the ''Macedonian Movement for Balkan Prosperity'' (MAKIVE) which was based in

Aridaia Aridaía (; mk, С'ботско, ''S'botsko''; bg, Съботско) is a town and a former municipality in the Pella regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Almopia, of which it is a mun ...

, along with four others; Dimitris Papadimitriou, Traianos Pasois, Kostas Tasopoulos and Petros Dimtsis. MAKIVE never participated in any elections. His first cousin Ioannis Voskopoulos, an elected Administrator of

Florina prefecture Florina ( el, Περιφερειακή Ενότητα Φλώρινας, ''Perifereiakí Enótita Flórinas'') is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Western Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia, Greece. Its ...

, as well as other members of his family, self-identify as Greeks.

Rainbow party

In 1994 he helped to found the Rainbow party, of which he has been one of the leading figures since then. The party opened its first office in the Greek city of Florina on 6 September 1995. On 14 September he, along with three other members of the Rainbow Party were charged with "having caused and incited mutual hatred among the citizens" by the local Florina court. Soon organisations such as Amnesty International came to the support of the members of the Rainbow Party, claiming that they would become "prisoners of conscience" if they were to be jailed for the offence.Amnesty International will adopt members of ‘Rainbow’ party as prisoners of conscience in case of imprisonment
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Public appearances

He has been a prominent figure in Greek media, with numerous appearances in talkshows, and in media of the neighbouring North Macedonia. He has attracted criticism for his positions and activities, given their controversial nature (for more see

Macedonia naming dispute The use of the country name "Macedonia (terminology), Macedonia" was disputed between Greece and the North Macedonia, Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) between 1991 and 2019. The dispute was a source of instability in the Balkans#W ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Voskopoulos, Pavlos 1964 births Slavic speakers of Greek Macedonia Living people People from Florina Rainbow (Greece) politicians