Evangelos Venizelos, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2013 –2015); Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister (2011 - 2012); Professor emeritus of Constitutional Law at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Evangelos Venizelos (born in 1957, Thessaloniki) is a former Deputy Prime Minister (2011 - 2015) and former President of PASOK (2012 - 2015). He was a governmental partner of the 2012 - 2015 coalition government (also known as the "Samaras-Venizelos government")
Between 1993 and 2015, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Finance, National Defence, Development, Culture, Justice, Transport, Press and Mass Media:
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic (2013-2015). Leader of PASOK (2012-2015). Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance (2011-2012). Minister for National Defence (2009-2011). Minister for Culture & Sports 2000-2004 (in charge of coordinating the entire range of aspects of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games preparation). Minister for Development, Energy, Industry, Trade, Tourism and Technology (1999-2000). Minister for Justice (1996), Minister for Culture & Sports (1996 – 1999). Minister for Press and Mass Media- Government Spokesperson (1993-95), Minister for Transport and Communications (1995-96). Member of the Greek Parliament (1993-2019).
As Minister of Finance during the Greek financial crisis, he managed, among other things, the write-down and restructuring of the Greek public debt.
A member of the Hellenic Parliament from 1993 to 2019, he has been elected ten times as a member of parliament for the first electoral constituency of Thessaloniki.
He was the majority party General Rapporteur in the extensive amendment of the Greek Constitution in 2001. (1995-2021)
He served as the minister responsible of Greece’s preparations for the 2004 Olympic Games.
He was the leader of PASOK (2012-2015)
As a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, he served as Rapporteur for monitoring the implementation of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in the 46 member countries.
He was appointed in 2022 by the Secretary General as a member and elected rapporteur of the seven-member High Level Reflection Group on the future of the Council of Europe.
As Minister of Foreign Affairs, he chaired the work of the General Affairs Council of the European Union during the Greek Presidency in the first half of 2014.
He is the author of numerous scholarly works, including monographs, academic textbooks, and collected volumes, and has served as editor of several significant collective publications. His academic output includes more than three hundred studies in the fields of Constitutional Law, legal and political theory, and related areas.
He has been awarded honorary doctorates by La Trobe University and the University of Nicosia.
Evangelos Venizelos is a Professor Emeritus of Constitutional Law at the Law School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki since 1984.
A detailed CV and a list of his scientific publications is available at https://evenizelos.gr/cv.html
He is an attorney at law in the supreme courts.
In 2015, he founded the think tank “Kyklos Ideon” (Circle of Ideas).
He is married to Lila Bakatselou and has a daughter, Elvina.
He speaks English and French.
Selected Recent Publications in English:
- 'The Greek Constitution at Fifty: Continuity, Resilience, and European Integration' Academia & SSRN 19.6.2025 [Link]
- ‘Du patrimoine à l’acquis constitutionnel’ in: Ch. Giannopoulos & L.-A. Sicilianos (dir), Le patrimoine constitutionnel européen entre progression et régression / The European Constitutional heritage between progression and regression, Actes du colloque organisé par la Fondation Marangopoulos pour les Droits de l'Homme et l'Université de Strasbourg, 4 - 5 May 2023, (Editions Pedone 2024) pp. 23-40 [PDF] & [Link]
- ‘Religious Freedom for Muslims: A Challenge to the Historical Foundations and Resilience of European Constitutionalism’, in: Mark Hill & Lina Papadopoulou (eds), Islam, Religious Liberty and Constitutionalism in Europe (Hart Publishing, 2024) pp 17-30 [PDF] & [Link]
- 'The Prespa Agreement as an example of prevalence of the monist approach in the relationship between the national Constitution and International Law', Contribution to Liber Amicorum in honor of Prof. Svetomir Škarić (forthcoming) [PDF] & [Link]
- 'Ultra Vires Review and the Shift of Legal Orders' in Hélène Gaudin, Eugenie Prevedourou, Christina Deliyanni (eds) Le droit européen, source de droits, source du droit. Etudes en l'honneur de Vassilios Skouris (Mare & Martin 2022) pp 675-688 [ PDF] & [Link]
- 'Greece's participation in the European integration as a national constitutional decision validated in the crisis’s cauldron' [2021] Hellenic Review of European Law, 2021 - special issue for the 40th anniversary of Greece’s accession of the European Communities, pp 1-16 [PDF] & [Link]
- 'From the relativization of the Constitution to the “augmented Constitution” ' (autumn/automne 2020) vol 32, no 3, ERPL/REDP pp 973 -1016 [PDF] & [Link]
- 'The impact of the financial crisis on the constitutions of Eurozone Member States under rescue programs - Greece as a laboratory of constitutional theory' (spring 2020) Vol 32, no. 1, European Review of Public Law 295-342 [PDF] & [Link]
- 'The influence of the 2012 restructuring of the Greek public debt' (2020) 2 European Law Review pp. 267-277 [PDF] & [Link]
also published in European Current Law, Vol. 9 (2020), p. 797. - 'Bible and Constitution: Thoughts on the political theology ' (2020) RdT 61 Rassegna di Teologia pp 115-124
- 'Democratic Legitimacy at National Level and Solidarity between Financially Unequal Member States. Two Structural Problems of European Integration' (2017) 1-2 European Politeia - EPLO Publications pp 281-302 [PDF] & [Link]
- 'Crise grecque et zone euro' (Automne 2017) 159 Commentaire, pp 555-563 [PDF] & [Link]
- 'Statehood and sovereignty: the difficult equilibrium between European Union and Member States in crisis management- Refugee crisis and Brexit' (2016) 1 European Politeia - EPLO Publications 17-39 [PDF] & [Link]
- 'State Transformation and the European Integration. Project Lessons from the financial crisis and the Greek paradigm' (4 Feb 2016) no. 130 CEPS Special Report [link]
For more papers see here & here [Google Scholars]
Ev. Venizelos' latest Book:
Εκδοχές Πολέμου 2009-2022 [Ekdoches Polemou] = Versions of War 2009-2022
- A Conversation with the Journalist, George Kouvaras, regarding the events and circumstances that make up the Greek Economic Crisis [ see here ]
