Dora Bakoyannis | |
---|---|
Minister for Foreign Affairs | |
In office 15 February 2006 – 6 October 2009 |
|
Prime Minister | Kostas Karamanlis |
Preceded by | Petros Molyviatis |
Succeeded by | George Papandreou |
Mayor of Athens | |
In office 1 January 2003 – 14 February 2006 |
|
Preceded by | Dimitris Avramopoulos |
Succeeded by | Nikitas Kaklamanis |
Minister for Culture | |
In office 3 December 1992 – 13 October 1993 |
|
Prime Minister | Konstantinos Mitsotakis |
Preceded by | Anna Psarouda-Benaki |
Succeeded by | Melina Mercouri |
Personal details | |
Born |
Athens, Greece |
May 6, 1954
Political party |
New Democracy (Before 2010; 2012–present) Democratic Alliance (2010–2012) |
Spouse(s) |
Pavlos Bakoyannis (1974–1989) Isidoros Kouvelos (1998–present) |
Children | Alexia Kostas |
Alma mater |
University of Munich University of Athens |
Religion | Greek Orthodoxy |
Website | Official website |
Theodora "Dora" Bakoyannis (Greek: Θεοδώρα "Ντόρα" Μπακογιάννη; pronounced [ˈdoɾa bakoˈʝani]; née Mitsotakis; Greek: Μητσοτάκη; born May 6, 1954), is a Greek politician. From 2006 to 2009 she was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, the highest position ever to have been held by a woman in the Cabinet of Greece at the time; she was also Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in 2009. Previously she was the Mayor of Athens from 2003 to 2006, the first female mayor in the city's history, and the first woman to serve as mayor of a city hosting the Olympic Games. She also served as Minister for Culture of Greece from 1992 to 1993. She has been serving as an independent member of the Hellenic Parliament representing unofficially Democratic Alliance, the political party she founded in 2010, having been expelled from the opposition New Democracy party due to voting against the party line. In May 2012, due to the critical situation in Greece before the elections and given the established electoral law, Democratic Alliance decided to cooperate with New Democracy, based on a specific framework of values and to suspend its activities. Dora Bakoyannis rejoined New Democracy on 21 May 2012, ahead of the parliamentary election in June, where she headed the state deputies' ballot.
Bakoyannis was born in Athens in 1954 to a prominent Greek family in the field of politics. She is the eldest of four children of the veteran Greek politician Konstantinos, former Prime Minister of Greece and former leader of country's main centre-right political party New Democracy, and Marika Mitsotakis (née Giannoukou). Her family originates from Chania, Crete, and has a long tradition in the politics of Greece. Besides her father and herself, other members of the family were also prominent politicians such as her grandfather, Kyriakos, and his brother Aristomenis, while her brother Kyriakos is a member of the Hellenic Parliament. She is also a great-granddaughter of Eleftherios Venizelos' sister. This decade-long involvement has been reprehended as attestation for family-rule in Greek political life.