The Minister

Evangelos Venizelos, president of PASOK, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs

Evangelos Venizelos was born in in 1957. In 1980 he was married to lawyer Lila Bakatselou with whom he has a daughter, Elvina.

In September 1974, right after the restoration of democracy in , Venizelos was admitted to the Law School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he became involved in the student movement, as a member of the Central Council of Students Union of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1977) and the National Council of Students’ Unions (1975).

He graduated Law School in 1978 and continued with postgraduate studies at the University of Paris II, . Later, he was awarded an Honorary PhD from La Trobe University Melbourne, Australia.

In 1980 he was awarded Doctor of Law at the Law School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and in 1984 he was elected lecturer and then professor of Constitutional Law. At the same time he was exercising the office of lawyer to the State Council and the Supreme Court.

In the course of his academic career, Venizelos has published many academic studies and legal textbooks, as well as books dealing with the political issues surrounding the role of mass media in modern democracies, the role of government institutions, European affairs, Greek foreign policy, culture and development policies in the 21st Century, etc. His studies and papers have been published in most academic journals and in numerous articles in the national and international press.

At the same time, he was admitted in the BD of the National Bank of Greece and the National Center of Public Administration and becomes a member of the Committee for Local Radio Stations (independent authority for the regulation of radio broadcast stations).

In the general elections of 1993 he is elected for the first time MP of the Socialist Party (PASOK) for Thessaloniki's Constituency A, a position he kept in all following elections (1996, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2012). Evangelos Venizelos has been a member of the Central Committee of PASOK since 1990 and a member of PASOK Executive Office.

As a parliamentarian he has been a member of the Constitutional Revision Committee and the general “raporteur” on behalf of the parliamentary majority in the last Constitutional Revision of the year 2001.

Since 1993 he has served in numerous ministerial positions:

Minister for Press and Mass Media- Government Spokesman (1993-1995), Minister for Transport and Communications (1995-1996), Minister for Justice (1996), Minister for Culture & Sports (1996-1999), Minister for Development, Energy, Industry, Trade, Tourism and Technology (1999- 2000), Minister for Culture & Sports in charge of coordinating the entire range of aspects of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games preparation, like infrastructures, relations with International Olympic Committee etc. (2000-2004), Minister for National Defence (2009-2011), Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister (2011-2012).

In March 18, 2012, he resigned from his government positions and was elected President of PASOK.

After the two consecutive general elections of May and June 2012, Venizelos was sworn in Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Evangelos Venizelos speaks English and French.