President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias was at noon Friday sworn in for a second term in Greece's highest office, after being re-elected with an overwhelming majority of 266 votes among the 298 MPs in attendance in the 300-member unicameral parliament in a special session on February 3. "I swear in the name of the Holy, Consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity to safeguard the Constitution and the laws, to ensure their faithful observance, to defend the national independence and territorial integrity of the Country, to protect the rights and liberties of the Greeks and to serve the general interest and the progress of the Greek People," said Papoulias, taking the oath of office stipulated in the Constitution.
Papoulias was re-elected with the votes of the ruling Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), main opposition New Democracy (ND) and smaller opposition Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) parties' MPs in a roll-call vote during a special session of the unicameral parliament.
Papoulias is the sixth President of the Republic since the restoration of democracy in Greece in 1974, following Mihalis Stasinopoulos, Constantine Tsatsos, Constantine Karamanlis, Christos Sartzetakis and Costis Stephanopoulos.
Born in the city of Ioannina, He is a vegetarian. Papoulias is the son of Major General Gregorios Papoulias. He studied law at the University of Athens and the University of Milan, has a doctorate in private international law from the University of Cologne, and is an associate of the Munich Institute for Southeast Europe. Apart from his native Greek, he also speaks French, German and Italian. A former pole-vault and volley ball champion, Papoulias has been chairman of the National Sports Association since 1985. He is also a founding member and until recently president of the Association for the Greek Linguistic Heritage.
Karolos Papoulias is married to May (Maria) Panou and has three daughters.
Papoulias was a founding member of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and a close associate of its leader Andreas Papandreou. Since December 1974 he was continually elected to the PASOK Central Committee. He was also member of the Coordination Council, the Executive Bureau and the Political Secretariat, as well as Secretary of the PASOK International Relations Committee from April 1975 to 1985. For a number of years he was also a member of the Coordinating Committee of the Socialist and Progressive Parties of the Mediterranean.
He was first elected to Parliament in 1977 for Ioannina, and held his seat continuously through the subsequent legislative elections until his 2004 election as President of the Republic. He held several high offices during the PASOK cabinets:
Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, from 21 October 1981 to 8 February 1984.
Alternate Minister for Foreign Affairs, from 8 February 1984 to 5 June 1985 and again from 5 June 1985 to 26 July 1985.
Minister for Foreign Affairs, from 26 July 1985 to 2 July 1989.
Alternate Minister for National Defence, from 23 November 1989 to 13 February 1990 in the ecumenical government of Xenophon Zolotas .
Minister for Foreign Affairs, from 13 October 1993 to 22 January 1996.
In the Costas Simitis administration he was for a number of years Chairman of the Standing Committee on Defence and Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Parliament.
13.03.2010
