Prokopis Pavlopoulos was sworn in as the seventh president of the Hellenic Republic before a Parliament plenary on Friday.
A ceremony concluded at Parliament in the afternoon.
The president, elected by Parliament every five years, is the head of state in Greece. Although this role has no political power, as most power lies with the government, a president’s duties include formally handing out the mandates for the prime minister, on whose recommendation he also appoints or dismisses other members of government; he represents the State in its relations to other states, proclaims referendums etc.
Before taking office, the president recited a religious oath before Parliament.
Pavlopoulos, a long-time New Democracy politician and attorney by training, was nominated by the ruling leftist SYRIZA party, and was backed by the junior coalition party as well as ND. The former conservative minister was voted in as president on February 18.
After the ceremony, the new president will lay a wreath at the Monument of the Unknown Soldier in the centre of Athens, beneath Parliament, and then he will go to the Presidential Mansion to assume his new responsibilities.
Curriculum Vitae
Born in Kalamata, in the extreme southern Peloponnese province in 1950, Pavlopoulos graduated from high school in his home town and moved to Athens to attend law school in 1968.
He is married to Vlassia Pavlopoulou-Peltsemi and they have three children: Vassilis, an attorney-at-law, Maria, a French language and literature graduate and Zoe, a nursery school teacher.
In 1974 he was secretary to the first president of the republic, Michail Stasinopoulos. Pavlopoulos worked with the latter when he was arrested by a military junta in Greece, who placed Stasinopoulos was under house arrest.
Pavlopoulos studied law at the Université de Paris II on a scholarship by the French Government, and was awarded his postgraduate studies Diplome d’ etudes approfondies(DEA) in 1975 as well as a doctorate in Public Law in 1977 with honourable mention.
In 1978-79 he served his military consciption obligation.
He then entered academia as a lecturer (1981), assistant professor (1983), associate professor (1986) and professor of Public Law (1989) at the Athens University Law School.
In 1986 he was elected visiting professor at Université de Paris II.
He has published several books, papers and articles, primarily in the legal field.
In the general elections of 1996 he was elected on the state deputyies list with the New Democracy Party while in 2000, 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2012 he was elected as a Member of Parliament representing the first Athens constituency.
He has been Deputy Minister of the Presidency and Spokesman for the Zolotas Coalition Government (1989-1990), Legal Advisor to the President of the Hellenic Republic Constantine Karamanlis (1990-1995), Spokesman for the New Democracy Party (1995-1997), Parliamentary Spokesman for the New Democracy Party (2000-2004), Minister of Interior, Public Administration and Decentralisation (2004-2007) and Minister of Interior (2007-2009).
