Prokopios Pavlopoulos ( el, Προκόπιος Παυλόπουλος, ; born 10 July 1950), commonly shortened to Prokopis (Προκόπης), is a Greek lawyer, university professor and politician who served as the

president of Greece 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 ...

from 2015 to 2020. A member 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 ...

, he previously was

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

from 2004 to 2009. He was succeeded by

Katerina Sakellaropoulou Katerina Sakellaropoulou ( el, Κατερίνα Σακελλαροπούλου, Latn, el, Katerína Sakellaropoúlou, ; born 30 May 1956) is a Greek judge who has been the president of Greece since 13 March 2020. She was elected by the Hellenic ...

on 13 March 2020, who became the first woman to serve as President of Greece.

Academic career

Prokopis Pavlopoulos was born in

Kalamata Kalamáta ( el, Καλαμάτα ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula, after Patras, in southern Greece and the largest city of the homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia reg ...

Biography on Greek Parliament website
to high school principal and classics teacher Vasilios Pavlopoulos and grew up in the same city. After finishing school in his home town, he entered the Law School of 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 1968. In 1975, on a government scholarship, he received his

DEA The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic enf ...

from the Paris Panthéon-Assas University, followed by his PhD in 1977 on Public Law. He then returned to Greece to serve his military service in the Hellenic Army (1978–79). He was elected Lecturer at the University of Athens in 1980, and he was promoted to Reader in 1981. In 1983 he became Assistant Professor and he was promoted to Associate Professor in 1986. In 1989, he was elected (Full) Professor of Administrative Law. In 1986, Pavlopoulos was an adjunct faculty member at the Panthéon-Assas University.

Political career

Early political career

Pavlopoulos was secretary to the first President of the ''

metapolitefsi The Metapolitefsi ( el, Μεταπολίτευση, , " regime change") was a period in modern Greek history from the fall of the Ioaniddes military junta of 1973–74 to the transition period shortly after the 1974 legislative elections. The m ...

'',

Michail Stasinopoulos Michail Stasinopoulos ( el, Μιχαήλ Στασινόπουλος; 27 July 1903 – 31 October 2002) was a Greek jurist and politician who served as President of Greece from 18 December 1974 to 19 July 1975. A member of New Democracy, he was the ...

, in 1974.CV at the website of the Greek embassy in France
. From November 1989 to April 1990, he served as alternate Minister for the Presidency and government spokesman in the ecumenical government headed by

Xenophon Zolotas Xenophon Euthymiou Zolotas ( el, Ξενοφών Ζολώτας, 26 April 1904 – 10 June 2004) was a Greek economist and served as an interim non-party Prime Minister of Greece. Life and career Born in Athens on 26 April 1904. He graduated fro ...

. He served as head of the legal office to President

Konstantinos Karamanlis Konstantinos G. Karamanlis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Γ. Καραμανλής, ; 8 March 1907 – 23 April 1998), commonly Anglicisation, anglicised to Constantine Karamanlis or just Caramanlis, was a four-time prime minister and List of he ...

from 1990 to 1995, and political advisor to

Miltiadis Evert Miltiadis Evert ( el, Μιλτιάδης Έβερτ; german: Ebert; 12 May 1939 – 9 February 2011) was a Greek politician, a member of Parliament, government minister, and ex-chairman of the New Democracy party. Origins Evert was born in Athen ...

, then chairman of New Democracy, from September 1995. He was elected as a Member of Parliament for the

party in the 1996 parliamentary election; in the 2000 parliamentary election, he was elected as an MP for the

Athens A Athens A ( el, Α΄ Αθηνών) is a parliamentary constituency in Attica represented in the Hellenic Parliament. In its present form it dates to 1958, when the Athens B constituency was split off, leaving Athens A with the Municipality of Athe ...

constituency. He was appointed as New Democracy's Press and Information Spokesman by Evert on 20 April 1996; he subsequently became its Parliamentary Spokesman on 14 April 2000. Pavlopoulos was successively re-elected for Athens A in the 2000, 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2012 elections.

Minister of the Interior

Following the March 2004 legislative election, which was won by New Democracy, Pavlopoulos became Minister of the Interior, Public Administration and Decentralisation in the new government of the Prime Minister

Kostas Karamanlis Konstantinos A. Karamanlis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Αλεξάνδρου Καραμανλής; born 14 September 1956), commonly known as Kostas Karamanlis ( el, Κώστας Καραμανλής, ), is a Greek politician who served as the ...

on 10 March 2004. In the government appointed following New Democracy's victory in the September 2007 parliamentary election, the

Interior Ministry An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

was merged with the Ministry of Public Order; Pavlopoulous became Minister of the Interior and Public Order. He is a member of the Central Committee of New Democracy, and on 29 July 2004 he was designated as a member of the party's Political Council as one of seven MP candidates; no vote was necessary because there were only seven MP seats available on the Council.

President of Greece

Prokopis Pavlopoulos with Reuven Rivlin (3)

On 17 February, Prime Minister

Alexis Tsipras Alexis Tsipras ( el, Αλέξης Τσίπρας, ; born 28 July 1974) is a Greek politician serving as Leader of the Official Opposition since 2019. He served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019. Tsipras has led the Coalition of th ...

nominated Pavlopoulos as the ruling

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

–

ANEL The Independent Greeks - National Patriotic Alliance ( el, Ανεξάρτητοι Έλληνες (ΑΝΕΛ), ''Anexartitoi Ellines'', ANEL) is a national-conservative political party in Greece. The party was the junior coalition partner to the ...

coalition's candidate for the post of

President of Greece 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 ...

in the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

that had begun in December 2014. On 18 February 2015, backed by Syriza, ANEL and his own New Democracy party, Pavlopoulos was elected by 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 ...

as the new President of Greece with 233 votes in favour. He succeeded

Karolos Papoulias Karolos Papoulias ( el, Κάρολος Παπούλιας ; 4 June 1929 – 26 December 2021) was a Greek politician who served as the president of Greece from 2005 to 2015. A member of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), he previously ...

after the end of the latter's term on 13 March 2015.

Personal life

Pavlopoulos is married to Vlassia Pavlopoulou-Peltsemi and together they have two daughters, Maria and Zoe, and one son, Vasilis. David Davis, the son of Katherine, Crown Princess of Yugoslavia (and her husband Alexander Davis), is a godchild of President Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

Honours

*: Grand Collar of the

Order of Makarios III The Order of Makarios III ( el, Τάγμα Μακάριου Γ') is the highest order of merit awarded by Cyprus. Established in 1991, the order is named after the first President of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios III. Grades The Order of Makarios ...

- 30 March 2015 * : Grand Cross of the

Order of the Legion of Honour Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

- 22 October 2015 * : Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking ...

- 23 November 2015 * : Grand Collar of the

Order of Prince Henry The Order of Prince Henry ( pt, Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique) is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of ...

- 27 January 2017 * : Knight of the Order of the White Eagle - 18 November 2017 * :

Order of the Republic of Serbia Order of the Republic of Serbia ( sr, Орден Републике Србије) is the highest state order of Serbia. The order is awarded by the decree of the President of Serbia on special occasions. It is awarded in the first class on a larg ...

, First Class - 15 February 2021

References

External links

* * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Pavlopoulos, Prokopis 1950 births 21st-century presidents of Greece 20th-century Greek lawyers Greek MPs 1996–2000 Greek MPs 2000–2004 Greek MPs 2004–2007 Greek MPs 2007–2009 Greek MPs 2009–2012 Greek MPs 2012 (May) Greek MPs 2012–2014 Living people Ministers of the Interior of Greece National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni National and Kapodistrian University of Athens faculty New Democracy (Greece) politicians Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University alumni Politicians from Kalamata Presidents of Greece Greek legal scholars