Filippos Petsalnikos

Filippos Petsalnikos Φίλιππος Πετσάλνικος
Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament
In office 15 October 2009 – 11 April 2012
Preceded by	Dimitris Sioufas
Succeeded by	Vyron Polydoras
Deputy Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament
In office 19 March 2004 – 14 October 2009
President	Anna Psarouda-Benaki Dimitris Sioufas
Minister of Justice
In office 24 October 2001 – 10 March 2004
Prime Minister	Costas Simitis
Preceded by	Michael Stathopoulos
Succeeded by	Anastasios Papaligouras
Minister of Public Order
In office 30 October 1998 – 19 February 1999
Prime Minister	Costas Simitis
Preceded by	Georgios Romeos
Succeeded by	Michalis Chrysohoidis
Minister of Macedonia-Thrace
In office 22 October 1996 – 30 October 1998
Prime Minister	Costas Simitis
Preceded by	Constantinos Triaridis
Succeeded by	Giannis Magriotis
Personal details
Born	(1950-12-01) 1 December 1950 Mavrochori, Greece
Political party	Movement of Democratic Socialists (since 2015), PASOK (until 2015)
Spouse(s)	Mariele Biedendieck
Children	Alexandros Danae Electra
Alma mater	University of Thessaloniki University of Bonn
Profession	Attorney
Religion	Greek Orthodoxy
Website	www.petsalnikos.gr

Filippos Petsalnikos (Greek: Φίλιππος Πετσάλνικος; born 1 December 1950)^[1] is a Greek politician of the Movement of Democratic Socialists. From 2009 to 2012, he served as Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament. Before, he had been a Member of the Hellenic Parliament since 1985.

Life

Born in Mavrochori, Kastoria, Petsalnikos studied law in Greece and Germany.

Political career

In 1985, he was elected for the first time as an MP for the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK).

He served as the Minister for Macedonia-Thrace between 22 October 1996 and 30 October 1998, the Minister of Public Order between 30 October 1998 and 19 February 1999 and the Minister of Justice between 24 October 2001 and 10 March 2004. He was elected to the position of Speaker on 15 October 2009 by 168 of the Parliament's 300 MPs.^[2]

On 3 January 2015, it was announced that Petsalnikos would join former prime minister Papandreou in leaving PASOK to found the new Movement of Democratic Socialists.^[3]

Personal life

He is married and has three children.^[4] Petsalnikos speaks Greek, English and German. His wife is an attorney and supports (2005) DKIZ, which is (2011) a selfhelp-organisation run by and for German speaking women in Greece. ^{[5] [6]}

References

External links

• Official website