Vasilis Leventis
Vasilios "Vasilis" Leventis ( Greek Βασίλειος “Βασίλης” Λεβέντης , born November 2, 1951 in Messini ) is a Greek politician and chairman of the Enosi Kendroon , the Union of Centrists.
Life
Vasilis Leventis is the fourth child of Apostolos and Gregoria Leventis, who originally came from Korakovouni, a small village in Arcadia . The Leventis family moved to Piraeus , where Vasilis Leventis graduated from high school and was admitted to the NTUA Faculty of Civil Engineering in 1969 as the sixth-best high school graduate .
In 1975 he was assistant to the dean of the NTUA, Kyriakos Biris, involved in the formulation of Articles 23 and 24 of the Greek Constitution.
He speaks fluent German and understands English.
Political career
Vasilis Leventis became a founding member of PASOK in 1974 and ran for a seat in parliament. Immediately after PASOK took over government in 1981, he publicly reported concerns about the party's course, as it had deviated too much from its original liberal principles.
In 1982 he ran for mayor of Piraeus. In 1984 he founded the first ecological party in Greece and got 0.15% of the vote in the European elections. In 1986 he ran for Mayor of Athens and got 0.57% of the vote. In the parliamentary elections in June 1989 he ran for the Nea Dimokratia , but was not elected in his constituency.
In 1992 he decided to create the Enosi Kendroon , the Union of Centrists . Among other things, his aim was to give a political voice to the legendary Venizelism , a liberal movement from the political center that was able to modernize many areas of Greece at the beginning of the 20th century. The share of the vote that his party received in national parliamentary elections, however, was always very modest, hovering around 0.3% to 0.5%. It was not until the parliamentary election in January 2015 that he was able to achieve a result of 1.79%, which, however, was still below the 3% threshold for entering parliament. In the parliamentary elections in September 2015 , his party rose and entered the Greek parliament for the first time with 3.43% . Leventis also won a member of parliament.
Political opinions
Leventis publishes its political opinion through the quarterly magazine Antidiaploki and through regular appearances in its own television program, which is broadcast on various regional television channels.
His views are assigned to the political center , with Leventis placing particular emphasis on rational and transparent politics. He advocates a relatively radical reform of the Greek state apparatus that includes layoffs and wage cuts. He also wants to immediately stop the payment of second and third pensions for pensioners whose largest pension is more than € 1000. He criticizes the established politicians in a relatively polemical way and often accuses them of making populist promises in order to escape the harsh truth. His polemical style has been the subject of satirical parodies on Greek television for many years . The parodies increased his popularity, but for years did not change the very low results of Enosi Kentroon in the elections. That didn't change until 2014 and 2015, when an internet movement started acclaiming Leventis. The internet movement pointed to the fulfillment of many of his public prophecies , which he had made public since 1992 and which concerned the future economic situation in Greece and the problems of the unprepared accession to the euro.
Leventis is in favor of Greece remaining in the euro zone and is a proponent of Greece's austerity and reform course within the framework of euro membership. In the 2015 Greek referendum, he ideologically favored a yes , but announced that he would abstain, as his yes should by no means be taken as "keep it up".
Web links
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Leventis, Vasilis |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Leventis, Vasilios; Λεβέντης, Βασίλειος; Λεβέντης Βασίλης |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Greek politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 2, 1951 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Messini |