Markos Kyprianou ( ; born 22 January 1960) is a Cypriot politician who served as

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

until his official resignation on 19 July 2011, following the events of the

Evangelos Florakis Naval Base explosion On 11 July 2011, at Evangelos Florakis Naval Base, situated at Mari, Larnaca District in Cyprus, a large amount of ammunition and military explosives self-detonated, killing 13 people, including the Commander of the Cyprus Navy, Andreas Ioann ...

. A member of the Democratic Party, he was previously Cyprus's

Minister 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 portfolio ...

from 2003 to 2004 and a European Commissioner from 2004 to 2008. He tendered his resignation as Commissioner on 29 February 2008 to become Foreign Minister in the government of President

Dimitris Christofias Dimitris (Δημήτρης) is the Modern Greek form of the older forms Demetrios, Dimitrios (Δημήτριος, usually Latinized as Demetrius) and may refer to: * Dimitris Arvanitis (born 1980), Greek professional football defender who plays for ...

; the resignation took effect on 3 March 2008, when his successor,

Androulla Vassiliou Androulla Vassiliou (; born 30 November 1943) is a Cypriot and European politician. Between March 2008 and February 2010, she was the European Commissioner for Health, and then, until November 2014, the European Commissioner for Education, Cu ...

, was confirmed as Commissioner.

Biography

Born in

Limassol Limassol, also known as Lemesos, is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the Limassol district. Limassol is the second-largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population of 195,139 and a district population o ...

, Kyprianou is the younger son of

Spyros Kyprianou Spyros Achilleos Kyprianou (; 28 October 1932 – 12 March 2002) was a Cypriot barrister and politician, who served as President of Cyprus from 1977 to 1988. He also served as President of the Cypriot House of Representatives from 1976 to 19 ...

, who was

President of Cyprus The president of Cyprus, officially the president of the Republic of Cyprus, is the head of state and the head of government of Cyprus, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Cypriot National Guard. The office was established by the Constitu ...

from 1977 to 1988, and former Cypriot First Lady

Mimi Kyprianou Erasmia "Mimi" Kyprianou (; 1932 – November 22, 2021) was the inaugural First Lady of Cyprus from 1977 to 1988 during the presidency of her husband, Spyros Kyprianou. She was Cyprus' first official first lady, as the country's first president, ...

. He studied law at the Law School of the

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 ...

and at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, where he specialised in international law and tax law and was awarded a master's degree in Law (LLM). He earned a second master's degree in law, specialising in Company Law and Taxation, at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

. He continued his academic career as a trainee at the Human Rights Commission of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

and by carrying out research in international law at the University of Cambridge. As a commissioner, one of his policies was the promotion of warnings on tobacco packets, with the Commission moving towards pictorial warnings. Following several

European Union member state The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are party to the EU's founding treaties, and thereby subject to the privileges and obligations of membership. They have agreed by the treaties to share their o ...

s enacting bans on smoking in public places Kyprianou proposed a plan for an EU-wide ban of that kind. In May 2007, Kyprianou released a paper to tackle the shortage of

organ donation Organ donation is the process when a person authorizes an organ (anatomy), organ of their own to be removed and organ transplantation, transplanted to another person, #Legislation and global perspectives, legally, either by consent while the d ...

in the Union. The plan included promotion, specially trained medical staff and an EU wide organ donor card. Markos Kyprianou was officially charged on 24 January 2012, together with seven other persons, by the Attorney General of the Republic of Cyprus in relation to the Mari blast. On 9 July 2013, a Cyprus Criminal Court found Markos Kyprianou innocent and acquitted him of all charges. On 9 February 2014, Kyprianou staged a political comeback as he was elected Deputy President of the Democratic Party in Cyprus.

Professional C.V.

* since 1985 practising law * 1985–1991 associate with the law firm of Antis Triantafyllides & Sons * 1991–1995 partner with the law firm of Kyprianou & Boyiadjis * 1995– 2003 partner with the law firm of George L. Savvides & Co (merged with Kyprianou & Boyiadjis)

Political C.V.

* 1986–1991 Municipal Councillor for the City of Nicosia * 1993–1997 President of the Youth Organization of the Democratic Party * since 1986 Member of the Central Committee of the Democratic Party (DIKO) * since 1990 Member of the Political Committee of the Party * 1993–1998 and 2001 Member of the Executive Bureau of the Party * 1991–2003 Member of the House of Representatives for the Nicosia District * 1999–2003 Chairman of the House Committee on Financial and Budgetary Affairs * 1 March 2003 – 30 April 2004,

* from 1 May 2004 - 3 March 2008. Member of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

, (since November 2004 responsible for Health and Consumer Protection) * from 3 March 2008 – 5 August 2011, Minister of Foreign Affairs. * since 9 February 2014, Deputy President of Democratic Party.

Memberships

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...

(associate member) * Harvard Law School Association of Europe *

International Bar Association The International Bar Association (IBA), founded in 1947, is a bar association of international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies. The IBA in 2018 had a membership of more than 80,000 individual lawyers and 190 bar associati ...

* Cyprus

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

Society

References

External links

Official website
, - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Kyprianou, Markos 1960 births Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Cypriot European commissioners 20th-century Cypriot lawyers Ministers of finance of Cyprus Ministers of foreign affairs of Cyprus Greek Cypriots Harvard Law School alumni Living people People from Limassol National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni Democratic Party (Cyprus) politicians Children of presidents 21st-century Cypriot lawyers