Nicos Anastasiades

Nicos Anastasiades Νίκος Αναστασιάδης
7th President of Cyprus
Incumbent
Assumed office 28 February 2013
Preceded by	Demetris Christofias
President of the Democratic Rally
In office 8 June 1997 – 28 February 2013
Preceded by	Yiannakis Matsis
Succeeded by	Averof Neofytou
Personal details
Born	(1946-09-27) 27 September 1946 Pera Pedi, Cyprus
Political party	Democratic Rally
Spouse(s)	Andri Moustakoudes
Children	Elsa Ino
Alma mater	University College London
Religion	Greek Orthodox
Website	www.anastasiades.com.cy

Nicos Anastasiades (Greek: Νίκος Αναστασιάδης [ˈnikos anastasiˈaðis] Níkos Anastasiádis; born 27 September 1946) is a Cypriot politician who has been President of Cyprus since 2013. Previously, he was leader of the center-right political party Democratic Rally (DISY).

Education

Anastasiades is a lawyer by profession and he is the founder of law firm "Nicos Chr. Anastasiades & Partners".^[1] He graduated in law from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and completed postgraduate studies in shipping law at University College London. During his university studies, he was a member of the Centre Coalition based in Athens formed by Georgios Papandreou.^[2]

Political career

Anastasiades was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1981 and has been leader of his party since 8 June 1997.^[3]

Military conscription

Angela Merkel with Nicos Anastasiades in 2007 at the EPP summit.

During his electoral campaign for the post of Cyprus President in 2013, he announced his commitment to reduce military conscription in Cyprus to 14 months during the first hundred days of his term.^[4] During the early months of Nicos Anastasiades administration there has been important planning for the reduction of military conscription to 14 months in order to increase the incentive for the 18 years old to serve their conscription and to reduce the financial burden to the Cypriot state. Minister of Defence Fotis Fotiou has announced that there will be a final decision to the reduction of military conscription towards late 2013. There has been increasing pressure for ending military conscription due to the 2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis.

In early August 2013, Minister of Defence Fotis Fotiou announced the reduction of military service which was in the electoral manifesto of Nicos Anastasiades. He supported that national service will be reduced to 18 months in the first phase and then decrease further to 14 months before the end of 2014.

Cyprus problem

Anastasiadis supported the Annan Plan for Cyprus, even though a majority (61%) of his party voted it down. Some of his intra-party opposition were even calling for Anastasiadis to step down.^[5] Many party cadres were up in arms over Anastasiadis' letter to the European Parliament alleging that the government trampled on free speech and human rights during the campaign. The government cited the National Television Council's data that showed that the six parties supporting the "No" vote got as much air time as the two that supported the UN plan.^[6] The start of peace negotiations between Nicos Anastasiades and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart will begin in October 2013, attracting the interest of international media and world leaders including Barack Obama.^[7]

President of Cyprus

In March 2012, Nicos Anastasiades was nominated as a candidate for the 2013 Cypriot presidential election, against his rival MEP Eleni Theocharous in a vote among the 1,008 strong executive of the Democratic Rally.^[8] Nicos Anastasiades earned 673 votes (86.73%) and MEP Theocharous 103 (13.27%). On the first round of the presidential election on 17 February 2013, Anastasiades won 45% of votes, while Stavros Malas and George Lillikas earned 26.9% and 24.9%, respectively.^[9] He won in the second round with 57.48% of the vote.

Personal life

He married Andri Moustakoudi in 1971 and has two daughters.^[2] He has a twin brother and a sister.^[10]

Distinctions

Nicos Anastasiades in April 2013

• First Vice-president of the delegation of the House to the EU-Cyprus Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC).
• Leader of the delegation of the House to the Association of Asian Parliaments for Peace (Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) since 2008).
• Leader of the delegation of the House to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM).
• Leader of the delegation of the House to the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA) (Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean since 2010).^[11]
• Leader of the delegation of the House to the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA) (Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean since 2010).
• Vice-president of the Executive Committee of the Cyprus Group to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
• Member of the delegation of the House to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean and of the delegation of the House to the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA).^[11]

See also

• European People's Party
• Reduction of military conscription in Cyprus

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nicos Anastasiades.

v t e Presidents of Cyprus Makarios III Glafcos Clerides (acting) Makarios III Spyros Kyprianou George Vasiliou Glafcos Clerides Tassos Papadopoulos Demetris Christofias Nicos Anastasiades

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