Ioannis Sarmas (; born 21 March 1957) is a Greek judge and politician who briefly served as the caretaker

Prime Minister of Greece The prime minister of the Hellenic Republic (), usually referred to as the prime minister of Greece (), is the head of government of the Greece, Hellenic Republic and the leader of the Cabinet of Greece, Greek Cabinet. The officeholder's of ...

in 2023. He was also the chairman of the Greek Court of Audit from 2019 to 2023. Because the

May 2023 Greek legislative election Snap parliamentary elections were held in Greece on 21 May 2023. All 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament were contested. They were the first elections since 1990 not to be held under a bonus seats system, due to amendments to the electoral law ...

did not result in the formation of a new government, President

Katerina Sakellaropoulou Katerina N. Sakellaropoulou ( ; born 30 May 1956) is a Greek retired judge who served as the president of Greece from 2020 to 2025. She was elected by the Hellenic Parliament to succeed Prokopis Pavlopoulos on 22 January 2020. Prior to her electi ...

appointed him to be the

caretaker Caretaker may refer to: Occupations * Janitor (chiefly in the United States), a person who cleans and maintains buildings such as hospitals and schools * Property caretaker, a person who cares for a property * Caregiver or carer (UK), a person wh ...

on 25 May 2023, becoming the 100th holder of that office. He served as caretaker prime minister until the formation of the new government of

Kyriakos Mitsotakis Kyriakos Mitsotakis (, ; born 4 March 1968) is a Greek politician currently serving as the prime minister of Greece since July 2019, except for a month between May and June 2023. Mitsotakis has been president of the New Democracy (Greece), New ...

after the June 2023 election.

Biography

He was designated for the chairmanship of the Greek Court of Audit on 4 November 2019, serving a non-renewable four-year term as per the

Constitution of Greece The Constitution of Greece () was created by the Fifth Revisionary Hellenic Parliament in 1974, after the fall of the Greek junta and the start of the Third Hellenic Republic. It came into force on 11 June 1975 (adopted two days prior) and has ...

. Ioannis Sarmas completed his legal studies at the

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...

from 1975 to 1979, graduating with distinction as the top student in his class. He was awarded scholarships by the French Government and the Greek state scholarships foundation for his postgraduate studies. He obtained three

Diplôme d'études approfondies A Master of Advanced Studies (MASt or MAS), or Master of Advanced Study, is a postgraduate degree awarded in various countries. Master of Advanced Studies programs may be non-consecutive programs tailored for "specific groups of working professio ...

(DEA) from the

Paris-Panthéon-Assas University The Paris-Panthéon-Assas University (), commonly known as Assas or Paris 2, is a public university, public research university in Paris, France. It is considered the direct inheritor of the Faculty of Law of Paris, the second-oldest faculty of ...

: in Criminal Law (1980-1981), Public Law (1982-1983), and Public Economics (1983-1985). He also earned a doctorate in the law of individual rights from the same university (1981-1985), achieving the highest distinction, très honorable. He served as a reserve officer at the

Greek Air Force The Hellenic Air Force (HAF; , sometimes abbreviated as ΠΑ) is the air force of Greece (''Hellenic'' being the endonym for ''Greek'' in the Greek language). It is considered to be one of the largest air forces in NATO, and is globally placed 1 ...

between 1984 and 1986. Prior to this, he studied law in Athens in the late 1970s and completed his postgraduate and doctorate studies in Paris from 1980 to 1985, with very good grades. He began to serve the law system in January 1987, at first in the

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

until 1993 and after in the Court of Audit. He was a member and president of a sector in the European Court of Audit from 2002 to 2013. As vice president of the Court of Audit, he was the head of the third sector of the Court from 2014 to 2019. He was granted honorable doctorates from the International University of Greece, the Panteion University, and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in the fields of public administration and law.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarmas, Ioannis 1957 births Living people People from Kos Independent politicians in Greece Greek expatriates in France National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University alumni 20th-century Greek judges 21st-century Greek judges 21st-century prime ministers of Greece