Irene "Rena" Dourou ( el, Ειρήνη "Ρένα" Δούρου; born 7 October 1974) is a Greek

political scientist Political science is the science, scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of politics, political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated c ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

of 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). From 2014 to 2019, she served as the Regional Governor of

Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Se ...

. She lost Re-election to

New Democracy (Greece) New Democracy (ND; el, Νέα Δημοκρατία, Néa Dimokratía, ) is a liberal-conservative political party in Greece. In contemporary Greek politics, New Democracy has been the main centre-right political party and one of the two major ...

Candidate Giorgios Patoulis on July 7, 2019.

Early life and education

Born 1974 in

Aigaleo Aigaleo or Egaleo ( el, Αιγάλεω ) is a suburban municipality in the western part of Athens, belonging to the West Athens regional administrative unit. It takes its name from Mount Aigaleo. Its population was 69,946 at the 2011 census. Ge ...

to a police officer and a stay-at-home mother, whom Dourou later described as conservative yet open-minded, she was raised in Western Athens working-class suburb

Egaleo Aigaleo or Egaleo ( el, Αιγάλεω ) is a suburban municipality in the western part of Athens, belonging to the West Athens regional administrative unit. It takes its name from Mount Aigaleo. Its population was 69,946 at the 2011 census. Ge ...

. Active in the

anti-globalization movement The anti-globalization movement or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalis ...

, she helped founding

Synaspismos Youth Synaspismos Youth ( el, Νεολαία Συνασπισμού; "Coalition's Youth"), was the youth organisation of Synaspismos. Until 1999, it was named Union of Left Youth. The ''Synaspismos Youth'' participated in the Left Unity in the Greek Un ...

in 1995. Dourou took up her studies to become a teacher at

Athens University 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 ...

. Following her graduation she was rewarded a scholarship to

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

where she enrolled in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

. Though Dourou was encouraged to pursue a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

, she decided to return to Greece, where in 2004 she joined the newly founded

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

party. Apart from

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 ...

, Dourou is fluent in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, French,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

and

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

Political career

In the two consecutive legislative elections of

May May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...

and June 2012, she was elected a member of 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 ...

for the suburban

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 constit ...

constituency. In a television appearance on 7 June 2012, far-right Golden Dawn party's MP

Ilias Kasidiaris Ilias P. Kasidiaris ( el, Ηλίας Π. Κασιδιάρης; born 30 November 1980) is a Greek politician and founder of the political party Greeks for the Fatherland and author. He was a member of the Greek parliament, and one of the former le ...

threw a glass of water at Dourou, proceeding to physically assault

Liana Kanelli A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a tax ...

after she objected to his behavior. The incident caused an uproar, both nationally and internationally, and was widely seen as a moment of revelation regarding Golden Dawn's violent agenda. Following the elections, Dourou was appointed to the

Shadow Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras The First Shadow Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras was formed on 3 July 2012, following the June 2012 Greek legislative election. It consisted of only Syriza MPs, as they were the largest party to refuse to participate in the ND-PASOK-DIMAR coalition. T ...

, where she was made responsible for

foreign policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

. In the beginning, Dourou had to cope with prejudices against female politicians, with a ''

Kathimerini ''Kathimerini'' (Greek: Η Καθημερινή, pronounced kaθimeriˈni meaning ''The Daily'') is a daily, political and financial morning newspaper published in Athens. Its first edition was printed on September 15, 1919. and it is considered ...

'' commentator railing that the "nice blonde" be rather "a qualified kindergarten teacher" than qualified on foreign policy issues. However, she fought her way through male dominance and sexism, defining Syriza's

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

and foreign policy, as to be increasingly described her party's "rising star".

Governor of Attica

On 26 March 2014, well ahead of the local elections in May, she ceded her parliamentary seat to her party's first runner-up Eleni Avlonitou in order to fully concentrate on campaigning for regional governor of

. For her all-in decision, she gained further respect, being referred to as the first member of parliament to do so. Running a door-to-door

campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * Bl ...

on an electoral platform called "Power of Life" ( el, Δύναμη Ζωής, links=no), she challenged incumbent Giannis Sgouros who ran for the social-liberal "Social Values" party, and won the first round. Though in the decisive runoff ballot, Sgouros had the backing of both

Nea Dimokratia New Democracy (ND; el, Νέα Δημοκρατία, Néa Dimokratía, ) is a liberal-conservative List of political parties in Greece, political party in Greece. In contemporary Politics of Greece, Greek politics, New Democracy has been the mai ...

and

PASOK 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 ...

parties, Dourou defeated him with 50.83% of the popular vote. Ahead of Syriza's victory at the January 2015 legislative election, her election as regional governor was widely described as Syriza's biggest victory so far. In charge of a €575m annual budget, she immediately increased

social welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet Basic needs, basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refe ...

spending from €1.9m to €13.5m in order to establish

food bank A food bank is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distribute food direc ...

health care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

for the

uninsured Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to Hedge ( ...

. She also ordered tens of thousands disconnected from electricity to be reconnected. She was criticized by Minister of Administrative Reform

Kyriakos Mitsotakis Kyriakos Mitsotakis ( el, Κυριάκος Μητσοτάκης, ; born 4 March 1968) is a Greek politician serving as the prime minister of Greece since 8 July 2019. A member of the New Democracy (Greece), New Democracy, he has been its presi ...

for supporting 19 mayors who refused to hand over municipal workers' files for evaluation.

Controversies

Dourou was heavily criticized for her decision to scrap four tenders for waste management plants. It was estimated that her decision lost 200 million of funding with ecological implications and a lack of capacity in the Attica waste management system. Deputy Development Minister Notis Mitarakis called on Dourou to "realize the difference between governing and protesting." He also argued that the Attica governor could not cancel the tenders on her own. Dourou is in favor of the separation of the church and state and took a non-religious oath when she was sworn in as governor, eliciting criticism from conservative and right-wing milieus.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dourou, Rena 1974 births Living people National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni Alumni of the University of Essex Greek political scientists Greek expatriates in England Syriza politicians Greek MPs 2012 (May) Greek MPs 2012–2014 Regional governors of Greece 21st-century Greek politicians 21st-century Greek women politicians Women political scientists Politicians from Athens Women governors and heads of sub-national entities