Athanasios "Thanos" Plevris (; born 21 May 1977) is a Greek politician and son of author Konstantinos Plevris who served as the Minister for Health under the cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis from 2021 to 2023. Plevris is often described as a radical right and

Islamophobic Islamophobia is the irrational fear of, hostility towards, or hatred against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general. Islamophobia is primarily a form of religious or cultural bigotry; and people who harbour such sentiments often stereot ...

voice in Greek politics.

Political career

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 ...

with the ultraconservative

Popular Orthodox Rally The Popular Orthodox Rally or People's Orthodox Alarm (Greek: Λαϊκός Ορθόδοξος Συναγερμός, ''Laikós Orthódoxos Synagermós''), often abbreviated to LAOS (ΛΑ.Ο.Σ.) as a reference to the Greek word for ''people'', is ...

at the 2007 parliamentary election. He was subsequently 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 ...

in June 2009, before returning to the national parliament at the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

held in October of the same year. When the Popular Orthodox Rally failed to reach the

electoral threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of votes that a candidate or political party requires before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can operate in various ...

of 3% at the May 2012 election, Plevris joined

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 ...

and became the party's first substitute after the

held the following month. A few months after being elected to the Athens

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

in May 2014, he was sworn in as a member of parliament for the third time in November 2014, replacing

Dimitris Avramopoulos Dimitris Avramopoulos (; born 6 June 1953) is a Greek politician of the conservative New Democracy party, and former career diplomat. He has served in various high-level cabinet posts, including Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Nat ...

who had resigned his seat in order to serve on 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 ...

. Plevris failed to be re-elected at the elections of

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, but returned to the legislature at the 2019 election. He currently serves as

Minister for Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

in the Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Plevris practices law in Athens, having completed postgraduate and doctoral studies in

medical law Medical law is the branch of law which concerns the prerogatives and responsibilities of medical professionals and the rights of the patient. It should not be confused with medical jurisprudence, which is a branch of medicine, rather than a br ...

Heidelberg University Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest unive ...

and in

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...

from 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 ...

respectively. He represented as lawyer the 8 police officers accused of brutality against Zak Kostopoulos. He completed his military service as a

sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

in the 32nd Marines Brigade.

Controversies

He is widely seen as a far-right figure in Greek politics and some of his opinions have been described as extreme and racist. In the 1990s during his academic years he used to participate in nationalist protests and in at least one instance was caught on camera burning Turkish flags alongside supporters of the neo-

nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

party Golden Dawn. Plevris has also advocated the use of

deadly force Deadly force, also known as lethal force, is the use of force that is likely to cause serious bodily injury or death to another person. In most jurisdictions, the use of deadly force is justified only under conditions of extreme necessity a ...

as a deterrent against

illegal immigration Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to do so. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, wi ...

. He has also suggested that immigrants should be denied access to food, water and health care, in order to make their living conditions in Greece less attractive than those in their homelands.

Antisemitism

While representing his father in court in 2019, he argued that Konstantinos Plevris’s public desire to see the return of Nazis and the reopening of the Auschwitz concentration camps should not count as hate speech or incitement under Greek law. After he was appointed as Minister for Health in 2021, some of this previous comments and statements resurfaced, resulting in a strong reaction by the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece. They issued a statement expressing concern over the appointment of Thanos Plevris as minister of health in the cabinet reshuffle. Plevris later apologised and avowed his “absolute respect” for Holocaust victims and opposition to antisemitism.

Vaccinations

In July 2021 he published an

op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page," is a type of written prose commonly found in newspapers, magazines, and online publications. They usually represent a writer's strong and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted a ...

article expressing controversial opinions about mandatory vaccinations and asking “if a citizen does not want to be vaccinated, is it my responsibility to convince them or should they go and get vaccinated themselves?". After his appointment in September 2021, some of his previous comments on scientific approaches and vaccination strategies resurfaced and were labelled as ' antivax'.

References

External links

Personal homepage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Plevris, Thanos Greek MPs 2007–2009 People from Athens Popular Orthodox Rally politicians 1977 births Living people Greek MPs 2009–2012 Popular Orthodox Rally MEPs MEPs for Greece 2009–2014 Politicians from Athens Greek MPs 2019–2023 Greek MPs 2023–