Ioannis Vroutsis (; born 1 June 1963), commonly shortened to Giannis (), is 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 ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

serving as Alternate Minister for Sport in the Second Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis from July 2023. He has served as a member of parliament for the

Cyclades The CYCLADES computer network () was a French research network created in the early 1970s. It was one of the pioneering networks experimenting with the concept of packet switching and, unlike the ARPANET, was explicitly designed to facilitate i ...

since 16 September 2007. Having previously served as Minister for Labour, Social Security and Welfare in the

Cabinet of Antonis Samaras The Cabinet of Antonis Samaras succeeded the Caretaker Cabinet of Panagiotis Pikrammenos after the repeated legislative elections in May and June 2012. The cabinet The cabinet was sworn in on Thursday, 21 June 2012. The former ministries of ...

(21 June 2012 – 27 January 2015) and Minister for Labour and Social Affairs in the First Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis (9 July 2019 – 5 January 2021).

Early life and education

Vroutsis was born in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

on 1 June 1963 and is originally from

Naxos Naxos (; , ) is a Greek island belonging to the Cyclades island group. It is the largest island in the group. It was an important centre during the Bronze Age Cycladic Culture and in the Ancient Greek Archaic Period. The island is famous as ...

and

Amorgos Amorgos (, ; ) is the easternmost island of the Cyclades island group and the nearest island to the neighboring Dodecanese island group in Greece. Along with 16 neighbouring islets, the largest of which (by land area) is Nikouria Island, it compr ...

. He studied economics at the School of Law, Economics and Political Sciences of 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 ...

, where he was awarded a scholarship. He also holds a master's degree from

Panteion University The Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences (PUSPS; , ΠΠΚΠΕ), usually referred to simply as the Panteion University (Πάντειο Πανεπιστήμιο), is a university located in Athens, Greece. Founded in 1927, it is the ...

. He has previously worked as an economist at the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

Political career

He began to participate in politics as a member of

ONNED The Youth Organisation of New Democracy () is the youth organisation of the centre-right liberal Greek political party New Democracy. It was founded in 1974 by young members of New Democracy. Universities and schools In universities and technic ...

, the youth wing of

New Democracy New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a type of democracy in Marxism, based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path that w ...

. He has twice been a member of its executive committee, as secretary of the and as head of ONNED organizations in the

Attica Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...

basin. He had an active and long-standing involvement in local government. He served as a municipal

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

Vyronas Vyronas () is a suburban town and a municipality in the southeastern part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. The town is named after George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, the famous English poet and writer, who is a national hero of Greece. ...

in 1990. He was first elected to the

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

for the

constituency in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, and was re-elected in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

May May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May in the Southern Hemisphere is the ...

and June 2012,

January January is the first month of the year in the Julian calendar, Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. The first day of the month is known as New Year's Day. It is, on average, the coldest month of the year within most of the No ...

and September 2015,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, and

and June 2023.

First term as Minister for Labour

He served as New Democracy's chief policy officer from 2009 to 2011, when he was appointed ND's chief financial officer under

Antonis Samaras Antonis Samaras (, ; born 23 May 1951) is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2012 to 2015. A member of the New Democracy (Greece), New Democracy party, he was its president from 2009 until 2015. Samaras started his na ...

. On 21 June 2012, he was appointed Minister of Labour, Social Security and Welfare in the coalition government of Antonis Samaras.

In opposition

Following the 2015 national elections, on 5 February 2015, by decision of the party president, he is appointed along with

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 ...

and

Adonis Georgiadis Spyridon-Adonis Georgiadis (; born 6 November 1972), commonly known as Adonis Georgiadis, is a Greek politician, author, publisher and former telemarketer. Often described as being on the far right of the political spectrum, he currently serves ...

as a party parliamentary spokesman. On 13 January 2016, by the decision of the new party president

, he was reappointed parliamentary spokesman alongside

Nikos Dendias Nikolaos "Nikos" Dendias (; born 7 October 1959) is a Greek lawyer and politician of the conservative New Democracy (Greece), New Democracy party who has been serving as Minister for National Defence (Greece), Minister for National Defence in th ...

and

Niki Kerameus Niki Kerameus (, , ) is a Greek lawyer and politician serving as Minister of Labour and Social Security since June 2024. She previously served as Minister for the Interior of the Hellenic Republic from June 2023 to June 2024, appointed by Kyri ...

Second term as Minister for Labour

Following the 2019 election and the formation of a Mitsotakis government, Vroutsis was appointed Minister for Labour and Social Affairs. His first act as minister was to reverse the previous

Syriza The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance (), best known by the syllabic abbreviation SYRIZA ( ; ; a pun on the Greek adverb , meaning "from the roots" or "radically"), is a Centre-left politics, centre-left to Left-wing politi ...

government's decision to allow foreign nationals to apply for a social security number in Greece. In April 2020, during the initial outbreak of the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

pandemic, he announced a voucher program for scientists (lawyers, engineers/architects, educators and others) where they would complete a basic computer training program in exchange for a 600 euro voucher. The implementation of the program was plagued by various technical difficulties and the content was characterized by the opposition as low quality, consisting of scanned and poorly translated pages of books. The program was eventually pulled and vouchers were given out without conditions. He was replaced by

Kostis Hatzidakis Konstantinos (Kostis) Hatzidakis (; born 20 April 1965 in Rethymno) is a Greek politician who currently serves as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State in the Second Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis. He also serves as Vice President of New ...

after the 5 January 2021

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

reshuffle.

Member of Parliament

After leaving the first Mitsotakis cabinet in January 2021, he was once again appointed parliamentary spokesman. In March 2021, he stated in an interview to the ''Documento'' newspaper that TV personality had entered his ministry office with his private security team and threatened him over his attempt to stop a fraud case involving himself.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vroutsis, Giannis Living people 1963 births Labour ministers of Greece Politicians from Athens Greek MPs 2007–2009 Greek MPs 2009–2012 Greek MPs 2012 (May) Greek MPs 2012–2014 Greek MPs 2015 (February–August) Greek MPs 2015–2019 Greek MPs 2019–2023 Greek MPs 2023– National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni Panteion University alumni 20th-century Greek economists 21st-century Greek economists