Petros Efthymiou (, born 27 March 1950) 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 ...

academic and politician of the

Panhellenic Socialist Movement The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK (; , ), is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012 it was one of the two major parties in the country, along with New Democracy, its main political r ...

. A former minister and MEP, he is currently (since October 2009) the parliamentary spokesman of his party.

Early life

He was born in

Larissa Larissa (; , , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 148,562 in the city proper, according to the 2021 census. It is also the capital of the Larissa ...

Thessaly Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...

, and graduated from the Philosophical School of the

University of Ioannina The University of Ioannina (UoI; Greek: Πανεπιστήμιο Ιωαννίνων, ''Panepistimio Ioanninon'') is a public university located in Ioannina, Greece. The university was founded in 1964, as a charter of the Aristotle University of ...

. In 1974, he was a founding member of the

(PASOK). Until 1979, he worked as a teacher of the Greek language in secondary education, as well as a journalist and editor for the party's ''Agonistis'' youth magazine and the ''Sosialistiki Poreia'' weekly newspaper.

Career

In 1980-85 he was editor-in-chief of the political journal ''Anti''. From 1982 he occupied the post of Special Advisor for Educational Issues at the

Ministry of Youth and Sports A ministry of sports or ministry of youth and sports is a kind of government ministry found in certain countries with responsibility for the regulation of sports, particularly those participated in by young people. It is led by the minister of s ...

, before being named Secretary General for Media at the Ministry for the Press and Media for a short term in 1985. From 1986 to 1999, he worked as political editor at the ''

To Vima ''To Vima'' () 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 la ...

'' daily, and also as a talk show host for the

NET NET may refer to: Broadcast media United States * National Educational Television, the predecessor of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States * National Empowerment Television, a politically conservative cable TV network ...

public television network (1994–1999) and as a visiting lecturer at the

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 ...

in 1994-95. In 1998, he was awarded the prize for “Excellency in Journalism”, by the

President of the Hellenic Republic The president of Greece, officially the president of the Hellenic Republic (), commonly referred to in Greek as the president of the Republic (, ΠτΔ), is the head of state of Greece. The president is elected by the Hellenic Parliament; the ...

Konstantinos Stefanopoulos Konstantinos "Kostis" Stephanopoulos (, 15 August 1926 – 20 November 2016) was a Greek conservative politician who served two consecutive terms as the president of Greece from 1995 to 2005. Life and career Stephanopoulos was born in Patr ...

. At the 1999 European election he was elected to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

, serving until 11 April 2000, being a member in the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defense Policy and the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, Media and Sports. Subsequently, and until PASOK's electoral defeat in March 2004, he occupied the post of Minister of National Education and Religious Affairs. In the same elections, he was for the first time elected as an MP for the

Athens B Athens B (Athens Beta; ) 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 constituency. It was establi ...

constituency, being subsequently re-elected at the national elections of 16 September 2007 and 4 October 2009. He served as Press Spokesman and Secretary of the Relations Sector of PASOK in 2006–2007, as well as coordinator of the Economy Sector in the PASOK Parliamentary Committee (2006) and as a member of the Standing Committees on Social Affairs (2007–2008), Financial Affairs, and the Committee for the Constitutional Amendment. He is currently a member of the Standing Committee on Defense and Foreign Affairs as well as member of the Standing Committee on Cultural and Educational Affairs, as well as the spokesman of PASOK's Parliamentary Group since October 2009. Also he was elected President of the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE (OSCE PA) is an institution of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The primary task of the 323-member Assembly is to facilitate inter-parliamentary dialogue, an important aspect of the o ...

(O.S.C.E), in Oslo in July 2010.

Personal life

He is married with the journalist Anastassia Parentzoglou and has two children, named Seline and Paul.

External links

www.petrosefthymiou.gr
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Efthymiou, Petros 1950 births Living people Politicians from Larissa Greek MPs 2004–2007 Greek MPs 2007–2009 Greek MPs 2009–2012 PASOK MEPs PASOK politicians MEPs for Greece 1999–2004 Ministers of national education and religious affairs of Greece Writers from Larissa