Konstantinos Tasoulas is a Greek politician and lawyer who was elected President of Greece on 12 February 2025 and assumed office on 13 March 2025. A member of the center-right New Democracy party, he previously served as Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament from 2019 to 2025, Minister of Culture and Sports, and Deputy Minister of National Defence.

Early Life and Education

Konstantinos Tasoulas was born on 17 July 1959 in Ioannina, Greece. He studied at the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, graduating with a law degree in 1981. After completing his education, he practiced law in Athens. From 1988 to 1989, he worked at a law firm in London under a British Council scholarship.

Political Career

Konstantinos Tasoulas began his political career in 1981 when he joined the New Democracy party. He worked as private secretary to Evangelos Averoff, a former Greek foreign minister and leader of New Democracy. In 1990, Tasoulas was appointed president of the Hellenic Export Promotion Organisation, a position he held until 1993.

His involvement in local politics began in 1990 when he was elected to the municipal council of Kifissia, a suburb of Athens. In 1994, he was elected mayor of Kifissia and served from 1995 to 1998.

In the 2000 Greek legislative election, Konstantinos Tasoulas was elected to the Hellenic Parliament as a representative of Ioannina. He was subsequently re-elected in the parliamentary elections of 2004, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2023, representing the same constituency.

In 2006, he was appointed deputy parliamentary spokesperson for New Democracy. From 2007 to 2009, he served as Deputy Minister of National Defence. In February 2010, he became Secretary-General of the New Democracy parliamentary group, taking responsibility for coordinating the party's activities in Parliament.

Minister of Culture and Sports

Konstantinos Tasoulas served as Greece's Minister of Culture and Sports from June 2014 until January 2015 in the government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. During his tenure, he was involved in the Greek government's campaign for the return of the approximately 2,500-year-old Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum in London.

In October 2014, Tasoulas welcomed international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, wife of American actor George Clooney, to Athens. She visited Greece with lawyers Geoffrey Robertson and Norman Palmer to provide legal advice concerning the possible return of the Parthenon sculptures. During their visit, they met with Greek officials and discussed legal and diplomatic options for recovering the artifacts.

At a press conference at the Acropolis Museum, Tasoulas stated that Greece had not yet decided to pursue legal proceedings against the British Museum. He explained that the government would first seek a negotiated resolution through UNESCO mediation. The legal team examined possible international legal procedures if negotiations failed.

The Parthenon Marbles were removed from the Acropolis in Athens in the early nineteenth century by agents of British diplomat Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin. The sculptures were subsequently transported to Britain and acquired by the British Museum in 1816. Greece has long disputed the circumstances of their removal and requested their return. The Greek government seeks to reunite them with the surviving sculptures displayed at the Acropolis Museum in Athens.

Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament

Following the 2019 Greek general election, Konstantinos Tasoulas was elected Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament on 18 July 2019. He received 283 votes, with support from members of the governing New Democracy party and opposition parties including Syriza, Movement for Change (KINAL), Greek Solution and MeRA25.

He was re-elected Speaker in May 2023 and again in July 2023, serving three consecutive parliamentary terms in the position. During his speakership, the Hellenic Parliament conducted legislative proceedings and parliamentary debates under the governments of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Konstantinos Tasoulas held the position of Speaker from 18 July 2019 until 16 January 2025, when he stepped down following his nomination for the Greek presidency.

President of Greece

In January 2025, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis nominated Konstantinos Tasoulas as the New Democracy candidate for President of Greece, to succeed Katerina Sakellaropoulou, the country's first female president.

On 12 February 2025, Konstantinos Tasoulas was elected President of Greece in the fourth round of voting in the 300-seat Hellenic Parliament. He received 160 votes, exceeding the 151-vote majority required in that round. His opponents included Tasos Giannitsis, supported by PASOK, Louka Katseli, supported by Syriza and New Left, and Konstantinos Kyriakou, supported by the Niki party.

On 13 March 2025, Konstantinos Tasoulas was sworn in before the Hellenic Parliament in Athens and officially assumed office from Katerina Sakellaropoulou. He became the ninth President of the Hellenic Republic since the restoration of democracy in 1974. His presidential term is five years, in accordance with the Greek Constitution.

The Greek presidency is primarily a ceremonial institution, with constitutional responsibilities that include representing the state, promulgating legislation and carrying out formal duties associated with the formation of governments. Tasoulas assumed the presidency after more than two decades as a member of the Hellenic Parliament.

Personal Life

Konstantinos Tasoulas is married to lawyer Fani Stathopoulou. The couple have two children, Tasos and Magda.

Source: Biyografiler.com