Apostolos Katsifaras ( el, Απόστολος Κατσιφάρας; born 1959 in

Kalentzi Kalentzi ( el, Καλέντζι) is a village and a former community in Achaea, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Erymanthos, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area ...

, Achaea) is a

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 ...

politician with

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 ...

. From 2004 on, he served as a member of the Hellenic Parliament, and shortly held the post of a deputy minister. Elected in 2010 and reelected in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, Katsifaras currently serves as the Regional Governor of

Western Greece Western Greece Region ( el, Περιφέρεια Δυτικής Ελλάδας, translit=Periféria Dhitikís Elládhas, ) is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It comprises the western part of continental Greece and the north ...

Biography

Education and early career

Apostolos Katsifaras was born 1959 in

and is a nephew of former government minister Georgios Katsifaras. From 1981, following his graduation from the School of Economics and Management of the Technological Educational Institute of Patras, he worked for the

Greek National Tourism Organization The Greek National Tourism Organisation ( el, Εθνικός Οργανισμός Τουρισμού, ''Ethnikos Organismos Tourismou''), often abbreviated as GNTO ( el, EOT) is the governmental Board for the promotion of tourism in Greece. It fun ...

. Since the 1994 prefectural election, he also served as a prefectural councillor of Achaea. He was appointed and served as the Deputy Prefect of Achaea from 1997 until 2000 and he was Alternate Prefect between 2003 and 2004.

National political career

Following the 2004 legislative election, Katsifaras assumed a seat in the Hellenic Parliament representing the Achaea constituency, and was reelected in 2007 and 2009. In October 2009, Prime minister

George Papandreou George Andreas Papandreou ( el, Γεώργιος Ανδρέας Παπανδρέου, , shortened to ''Giorgos'' () to distinguish him from his grandfather; born 16 June 1952) is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from ...

appointed him Deputy Minister of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights. In the wake of the stirring trial against the police officers who killed

Alexandros Grigoropoulos The 2008 Greek riots started on 6 December 2008, when Alexandros Grigoropoulos ( el, Αλέξανδρος Γρηγορόπουλος), a 15-year-old Greek student, was killed by a special officer in Exarcheia district of central Athens. The kill ...

, militants attacked Katsifaras' first floor office in the

Exarcheia Exarcheia ( ) is a community in central Athens, Greece close to the historical building of the National Technical University of Athens. Exarcheia took its name from a 19th century businessman named Exarchos (Greek: Έξαρχος) who opened a lar ...

neighborhood of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

twice, once in November, and again in January 2010. Katsifaras said "Democracy cannot be coerced, nor bullied, nor killed. It responds with further enhancing individual and social rights, protection of the weak and eliminating disparities. Humanizing prisons, improved detention conditions and the protection of human rights will continue to be at the core of our policy." In September 2010 Katzifaras resigned from his post to run for the office of the Regional Governor of Western Greece.

Governor of Western Greece

Supported by his

party, Katsifaras clearly distanced Nea Dimokratia's candidate Georgios Papanastasiou in the 2010 regional election's second round, and became the first governor of the region to be newly created in the course of the

Kallikratis reform The Kallikratis Programme ( el, Πρόγραμμα Καλλικράτης, Prógramma Kallikrátis) is the common name of Greek law 3852/2010 of 2010, a major administrative reform in Greece. It brought about the second major reform of the count ...

. During his term, he was also the 1st Vice President of the Union of Greek Regions (ENPE). Since 2011, Katsifaras has been a Member of the European Union

Committee of the Regions The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice w ...

where he sits with the PES Group. He also serves as the 1st Vice President of the CPMR Intermediterranean Commission. In the 2014 regional election, he repeated his electoral success, this time running an independent platform. With 50.5%, he narrowly defeated ND candidate

Andreas Katsaniotis Andreas Katsaniotis (Greek: Ανδρέας Κατσανιώτης; born 28 November 1969) is a Greek agronomist, communication specialist and politician of the conservative New Democracy party. He is a Member of the Hellenic Parliament for Achaea ...

in the second round, to serve another and this time a five year term.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Katsifaras, Apostolos 1959 births Living people Greek MPs 2004–2007 Greek MPs 2007–2009 Greek MPs 2009–2012 MPs of Achaea Regional governors of Greece People from Achaea