Dimitris Avramopoulos

Dimitris Avramopoulos (2012)

Dimitris Avramopoulos ( Greek Δημήτρης Αβραμόπουλος , born June 6, 1953 in Athens ) is a Greek politician and diplomat. From November 2014 to December 2019, he was Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship in the Juncker Commission .

biography

Avramopoulos studied public law and political science at the Law Faculty of the University of Athens and completed postgraduate studies specializing in international organization at Boston University and in European Studies at the Institute for European Affairs at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Brussels .

Diplomatic career

From 1980 to 1993 Avramopoulos worked as a diplomat, first in the Foreign Ministry in Athens, from 1988 to 1992 as the Greek consul in Liège and special advisor to the Prime Minister and chairman of the Nea Dimokratia party , Konstantinos Mitsotakis . He also represented Greece at the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in Vienna that year. In 1992 he was spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens and Consul General of Greece in Geneva . In 1993 he became director of the diplomatic office of the Greek Prime Minister.

politics

Dimitris Avramopoulos (right) with Vladimir Putin in 2001

In 1993 he left the Greek diplomatic service as a member of the conservative Nea Dimokratia and became a member of the party's Central Committee. In 1993 he was elected as a member of the Greek Parliament . In 1994 he was elected Mayor of Athens and re-elected in October 1998.

After the victory of Nea Dimokratia in the parliamentary elections in 2004 , Dimitris Avramopoulos took over the office of Minister for Tourism in the government of Kostas Karamanlis until 2006, and from 2006 to 2009 he was Minister for Health and Social Solidarity.

When Karamanlis resigned as party leader after the severe defeat of the Nea Dimokratia in the 2009 parliamentary elections , Avramopoulos initially applied for the party chairmanship. However, he withdrew his candidacy in favor of Andonis Samaras . His support for Samaras was seen as essential for his victory in the election by the party base and was promptly rewarded by Samaras by appointing Avramopoulos as "shadow foreign minister".

Dimitris Avramopoulos as Secretary of Defense in the Pentagon (2012)

In the interim cabinet of Prime Minister Loukas Papadimos he was appointed as a representative of the Nea Dimokratia as defense minister. When he took office, he gave up his mandate.

On June 21, 2012 Avramopoulos was appointed foreign minister in the government of Andonis Samaras . In June 2013 he moved to the Ministry of Defense.

In November 2014 Avramopoulos became EU Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration. In April 2015 he presented a 10-point plan with which the EU should solve the refugee problem. The most important points of the plan are the increased sea rescue, the destruction of smugglers' boats and a fairer distribution of the arriving refugees between the EU member states . In July 2015, he asked for fingerprints to be taken from asylum seekers in order to ensure a smooth asylum procedure and to be able to better deport those not entitled to asylum.

family

Avramopoulos was born in Athens, his parents came from Arcadia and Ilia (Peloponnese). He has two children with his wife Vivian and lives in Athens.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ website of the commissioner
2. ↑ Dimitris Avramopoulos ( Memento of February 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), Personal information, (Engl.)
3. ↑ Greece newspaper of November 30, 2009 ( Memento of July 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ Kathimerini of December 14, 2009 (English)
5. ↑ List of ministers in the Samaras cabinet 2012–2015 (Greek)
6. ↑ Aline Robert (translated by Alexander Bölle): Asylum policy: Council reduces obligations for Hungary and Bulgaria. Euractiv, accessed July 7, 2015 . 

Web links

Commons : Dimitris Avramopoulos  - Collection of Images

• Personal website of Dimitris Avramopoulos