Petros Efthymiou ( el, Πέτρος Ευθυμίου, born 27 March 1950) 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 ...

academic and politician of the

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 ...

. A former minister and MEP, he is currently (since October 2009) the parliamentary spokesman of his party.

Early life

He was born in Larissa,

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...

, and graduated from the Philosophical School of the

University of Ioannina The University of Ioannina (UoI; Greek: Πανεπιστήμιο Ιωαννίνων, ''Panepistimio Ioanninon'') is a university located 5 km southwest of Ioannina, Greece. The university was founded in 1964, as a charter of the Aristotle Uni ...

. In 1974, he was a founding member of the

(PASOK). Until 1979, he worked as a teacher of the Greek language in secondary education, as well as a journalist and editor for the party's ''Agonistis'' youth magazine and the ''Sosialistiki Poreia'' weekly newspaper.

Career

In 1980-85 he was editor-in-chief of the political journal ''Anti''. From 1982 he occupied the post of Special Advisor for Educational Issues at the

Ministry of Youth and Sports A Ministry of Sports or Ministry of Youth and Sports is a kind of government ministry found in certain countries with responsibility for the regulation of sports, particularly those participated in by young people. The Ministry of Youth and Sp ...

, before being named Secretary General for Media at the Ministry for the Press and Media for a short term in 1985. From 1986 to 1999, he worked as political editor at the ''

To Vima ''To Vima'' ( el, Το Βήμα, lit=The Tribune) is a Greek weekly newspaper first published in 1922 by Dimitris Lambrakis, the father of Christos Lambrakis, as ''Elefthero Vima'' (Free Tribune). It was owned by Lambrakis Press Group (DOL), a ...

'' daily, and also as a talk show host for the

NET Net or net may refer to: Mathematics and physics * Net (mathematics), a filter-like topological generalization of a sequence * Net, a linear system of divisors of dimension 2 * Net (polyhedron), an arrangement of polygons that can be folded up ...

public television network (1994–1999) and as a visiting lecturer at the

Panteion University The Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences ( el, Πάντειον Πανεπιστήμιο Κοινωνικών και Πολιτικών Επιστημών), usually referred to simply as the Panteion University, is a university loc ...

in 1994-95. In 1998, he was awarded the prize for “Excellency in Journalism”, by the

President of the Hellenic Republic The president of Greece, officially the President of the Hellenic Republic ( el, Πρόεδρος της Ελληνικής Δημοκρατίας, Próedros tis Ellinikís Dimokratías), commonly referred to in Greek as the President of the Rep ...

, Konstantinos Stefanopoulos. At the 1999 European election he was elected to 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 ...

, serving until 11 April 2000, being a member in the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defense Policy and the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, Media and Sports. Subsequently, and until PASOK's electoral defeat in March 2004, he occupied the post of

Minister of National Education and Religious Affairs The Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports ( el, Υπουργείο Παιδείας, Θρησκευμάτων και Αθλητισμού) is a government department of Greece. One of the oldest ministries, established in 1833, it ...

. In the same elections, he was for the first time elected as an 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, being subsequently re-elected at the national elections of 16 September 2007 and 4 October 2009. He served as Press Spokesman and Secretary of the Relations Sector of PASOK in 2006–2007, as well as coordinator of the Economy Sector in the PASOK Parliamentary Committee (2006) and as a member of the Standing Committees on Social Affairs (2007–2008), Financial Affairs, and the Committee for the Constitutional Amendment. He is currently a member of the Standing Committee on Defense and Foreign Affairs as well as member of the Standing Committee on Cultural and Educational Affairs, as well as the spokesman of PASOK's Parliamentary Group since October 2009. Also he was elected President of the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE (OSCE PA) is an institution of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The primary task of the 323-member Assembly is to facilitate inter-parliamentary dialogue, an important aspect of the o ...

(O.S.C.E), in Oslo in July 2010.

Personal life

He is married with the journalist Anastassia Parentzoglou and has two children, named Seline and Paul.

External links

www.petrosefthymiou.gr
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Efthymiou, Petros 1950 births Living people Politicians from Larissa Greek MPs 2004–2007 Greek MPs 2007–2009 Greek MPs 2009–2012 PASOK MEPs PASOK politicians MEPs for Greece 1999–2004 Ministers of National Education and Religious Affairs of Greece Writers from Larissa