Irene "Rena" Dourou ( el, Ειρήνη "Ρένα" Δούρου; born 7 October 1974) is a Greek political scientist and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

of the Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza). From 2014 to 2019, she served as the Regional Governor of

Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean ...

. She lost Re-election to New Democracy (Greece) Candidate Giorgios Patoulis on July 7, 2019.

Early life and education

Born 1974 in

Aigaleo Aigaleo or Egaleo ( el, Αιγάλεω ) is a suburban municipality in the western part of Athens, belonging to the West Athens regional administrative unit. It takes its name from Mount Aigaleo. Its population was 69,946 at the 2011 census. G ...

to a police officer and a stay-at-home mother, whom Dourou later described as conservative yet open-minded, she was raised in Western Athens working-class suburb Egaleo. Active in the

anti-globalization movement The anti-globalization movement or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist m ...

, she helped founding Synaspismos Youth in 1995. Dourou took up her studies to become a teacher at Athens University. Following her graduation she was rewarded a scholarship to University of Essex in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

where she enrolled in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

and earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

. Though Dourou was encouraged to pursue a Ph.D., she decided to return to Greece, where in 2004 she joined the newly founded Syriza party. Apart from Greek, Dourou is fluent in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, Italian and Turkish.

Political career

In the two consecutive legislative elections of May and June 2012, she was elected a member of the Hellenic Parliament for the suburban

Athens B Athens B (Athens Beta; el, Β΄ Αθηνών) was a parliamentary constituency in Attica represented in the Hellenic Parliament. It covered a large part of urban area of Athens outside the Municipality of Athens, which forms the Athens A cons ...

constituency. In a television appearance on 7 June 2012, far-right

Golden Dawn Golden Dawn or The Golden Dawn may refer to: Organizations * Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a nineteenth century magical order based in Britain ** The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Inc., a modern revival founded in 1977 ** Open Source ...

party's MP Ilias Kasidiaris threw a glass of water at Dourou, proceeding to physically assault

Liana Kanelli A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a t ...

after she objected to his behavior. The incident caused an uproar, both nationally and internationally, and was widely seen as a moment of revelation regarding Golden Dawn's violent agenda. Following the elections, Dourou was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras, where she was made responsible for foreign policy. In the beginning, Dourou had to cope with prejudices against female politicians, with a '' Kathimerini'' commentator railing that the "nice blonde" be rather "a qualified kindergarten teacher" than qualified on foreign policy issues. However, she fought her way through male dominance and sexism, defining Syriza's

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

and foreign policy, as to be increasingly described her party's "rising star".

Governor of Attica

On 26 March 2014, well ahead of the local elections in May, she ceded her parliamentary seat to her party's first runner-up Eleni Avlonitou in order to fully concentrate on campaigning for regional governor of

. For her all-in decision, she gained further respect, being referred to as the first member of parliament to do so. Running a door-to-door campaign on an electoral platform called "Power of Life" ( el, Δύναμη Ζωής, links=no), she challenged incumbent Giannis Sgouros who ran for the social-liberal "Social Values" party, and won the first round. Though in the decisive runoff ballot, Sgouros had the backing of both

Nea Dimokratia New Democracy (ND; el, Νέα Δημοκρατία, Néa Dimokratía, ) is a liberal-conservative political party in Greece. In contemporary Greek politics, New Democracy has been the main centre-right political party and one of the two major ...

and PASOK parties, Dourou defeated him with 50.83% of the popular vote. Ahead of Syriza's victory at the January 2015 legislative election, her election as regional governor was widely described as Syriza's biggest victory so far. In charge of a €575m annual budget, she immediately increased social welfare spending from €1.9m to €13.5m in order to establish food banks,

health care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health pr ...

for the uninsured. She also ordered tens of thousands disconnected from electricity to be reconnected. She was criticized by Minister of Administrative Reform Kyriakos Mitsotakis for supporting 19 mayors who refused to hand over municipal workers' files for evaluation.

Controversies

Dourou was heavily criticized for her decision to scrap four tenders for waste management plants. It was estimated that her decision lost 200 million of funding with ecological implications and a lack of capacity in the Attica waste management system. Deputy Development Minister Notis Mitarakis called on Dourou to "realize the difference between governing and protesting." He also argued that the Attica governor could not cancel the tenders on her own. Dourou is in favor of the separation of the church and state and took a non-religious oath when she was sworn in as governor, eliciting criticism from conservative and right-wing milieus.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dourou, Rena 1974 births Living people National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni Alumni of the University of Essex Greek political scientists Greek expatriates in England Syriza politicians Greek MPs 2012 (May) Greek MPs 2012–2014 Regional governors of Greece 21st-century Greek politicians 21st-century Greek women politicians Women political scientists Politicians from Athens Women governors and heads of sub-national entities