Filippos Petsalnikos (; 1 December 1950 – 13 March 2020) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

politician of the Movement of Democratic Socialists. From 2009 to 2012, he served as

Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament The President of the Hellenic Parliament is the presiding officer of the Parliament of Greece. The president's term coincides with the term of the assembly,and is chosen by a vote during the opening session, after each legislative election. Fol ...

. Before, he was a

Member of the Hellenic Parliament The Parliament of the Hellenes (), commonly known as the Hellenic Parliament (), is the unicameral legislature of Greece, located in the Old Royal Palace, overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens. The parliament is the supreme democratic instit ...

from 1985 to 2012.

Life

Born in

Mavrochori Mavrochori (), meaning "black village"; before 1928: Μαύροβον – ''Mavrovon'') is a village on the shores of Lake Orestiada in Kastoria regional unit of Macedonia, Greece. Today Mavrochori is a tourist destination for a quiet vacatio ...

Kastoria Kastoria (, ''Kastoriá'' ) is a city in northern Greece in the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria (regional unit), Kastoria regional unit, in the Geographic regions of Greece, geographic region ...

, Petsalnikos studied law in Greece and Germany.

Political career

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

, he was elected for the first time as an MP for the

Panhellenic Socialist Movement The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK (; , ), is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012 it was one of the two major parties in the country, along with New Democracy, its main political r ...

(PASOK). He served as the Minister for Macedonia-Thrace between 22 October 1996 and 30 October 1998, the

Minister of Public Order The Ministry of Citizen Protection () is the government department responsible for Greece's public security services, i.e. the Hellenic Police, the Hellenic Fire Service, Hellenic (Corrections) Prison System, the Agrarian Police and the Gener ...

between 30 October 1998 and 19 February 1999. Petsalnikos resigned in the aftermath of the

Abdullah Öcalan Abdullah Öcalan ( ; ; born 4 April 1948 or 1949), also known as Apo (short for Abdullah in Turkish; Kurdish for "uncle"), is a founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Öcalan was based in Syria from 1979 to 1998. He ...

's capture. Later he acted as the

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

between 24 October 2001 and 10 March 2004. He was elected to the position of Speaker on 15 October 2009 by 168 of the Parliament's 300 MPs. On 3 January 2015, it was announced that Petsalnikos would join former

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Papandreou Papandreou () is a Greek surname. It is the surname of: * Georgios Papandreou (historian) (1859–1940), historian and linguist * Georgios Papandreou (1888–1968), Greek politician and Prime Minister of Greece. * Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens, D ...

in leaving PASOK to found the new Movement of Democratic Socialists.

Personal life

He was married and had three children. Petsalnikos spoke Greek, English and German. His wife is an attorney and supports (2005) DKIZ, which is (2011) a selfhelp-organisation run by and for German speaking women in Greece.

References

External links

* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Petsalnikos, Filippos 1950 births 2020 deaths People from Kastoria PASOK politicians Movement of Democratic Socialists politicians Justice ministers of Greece Ministers of public order of Greece Speakers of the Hellenic Parliament Greek MPs 1985–1989 Greek MPs 1989 (June–November) Greek MPs 1989–1990 Greek MPs 1990–1993 Greek MPs 1993–1996 Greek MPs 1996–2000 Greek MPs 2000–2004 Greek MPs 2004–2007 Greek MPs 2007–2009 Greek MPs 2009–2012 Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany