Katerina Sakellaropoulou
Katerina Sakellaropoulou is the President of Greece. She was elected to succeed former President of Greece, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, by the Hellenic Parliament on 22 January 2020. Prior to her election as President of Greece, she served as President of the Council of State, the highest administrative court of Greece.
Sakellaropoulou is the first female president of Greece.Biography
Sakellaropoulou was born in Thessaloniki. Her family comes from Stavroupoli, Xanthi, a town in Xanthi prefecture. She studied law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and completed her postgraduate studies at public law at Paris II University. In the mid-1980s, she was admitted to the Council of State and she was promoted to councellor in 2000.
In October 2015 she was appointed Vice-President of the Council of State, and in October 2018 she became the first female president of the court, following a unanimous vote. Her election came after the Syriza government, which was in power at the time, considered her progressive record on issues such as the environment and human rights.
She has been a member of the Association of Judiciary Functionaries of the Council of State. During her tenure at the association, she has served as its Secretary-General, Vice-President, and President.
She publishes regularly in academic journals. She has also contributed to the book Financial crisis and environmental protection on the case law of the Council of State, Papazisis Publications, 2017.Nomination and election as president
On 15 January 2020, the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, nominated her for the post of President of the Hellenic Republic, a post she was elected to on 22 January 2020 with 261 MPs voting in favour in the 300-seat Parliament.Personal life
Sakellaropoulou lives with her partner, Pavlos Kotsonis, a lawyer. She has one child from a previous marriage.
She is an Aris Thessaloniki supporter.
