Makis Voridis

Makis Voridis
Μάκης Βορίδης
Voridis in 2016
Minister for the Interior
In office
5 January 2021 – 23 April 2023
Prime MinisterKyriakos Mitsotakis
Preceded byTakis Theodorikakos
Succeeded byCalliope Spanou
Minister for Rural Development and Food
In office
9 July 2019 – 5 January 2021
Prime MinisterKyriakos Mitsotakis
Preceded byStavros Arachovitis
Succeeded bySpilios Livanos
Minister for Health
In office
10 June 2014 – 27 January 2015
Prime MinisterAntonis Samaras
Preceded byAdonis Georgiadis
Succeeded byPanagiotis Kouroumblis (Health and Social Security)
Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Networks
In office
11 November 2011 – 17 May 2012
Prime MinisterLucas Papademos
Preceded byGiannis Ragousis
Succeeded bySimos Simopoulos
Minister of the State
Assumed office
27 June 2023
Preceded byVasileios Skoures
Personal details
Born (1964-08-23) 23 August 1964 (age 59)
Athens, Kingdom of Greece
Political partyNew Democracy (2012–present)
Popular Orthodox Rally (2005–2012)
Hellenic Front (1994–2005)
National Political Union (1984–1990)
SpouseDanai Michelakos
ChildrenChristos
Alma materUniversity of Athens
University College London
WebsiteOfficial website

Mavroudis (Makis) Voridis (Greek: Μαυρουδής (Μάκης) Χρήστου Βορίδης; born 23 August 1964) is a Greek politician and lawyer. His previous and current involvement with far-right rhetoric and past association with dictator Georgios Papadopoulos has made him a controversial figure in Greek politics.

A member of the Hellenic Parliament for New Democracy since 2012, he served as the Minister for the Interior in the Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis from 2021 to 2023. He previously served as Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Networks in the Cabinet of Lucas Papademos (2011–2012), Minister for Health in the Cabinet of Antonis Samaras (2014–2015), and Minister for Rural Development and Food in the original Mitsotakis cabinet (2019–2021).

Early life and education

Voridis graduated from Athens College and acquired his degree from the Law School of the University of Athens. He also acquired a Master of Laws with merit from University College London. Voridis specialized in international commercial law, criminal law, and the philosophy of law. During his time there, he was the leader of the fascist student group "Student Alternative". Voridis himself has denied any connection with far-right politics, instead describing himself as a national liberal.

Political career

After graduating from Athens College, he was appointed secretary general of the young wing of the National Political Union (EPEN), a far-right political party founded by a year earlier by the jailed leader of the 1967 military coup and junta leader Georgios Papadopoulos. Voridis, who replaced Nikolaos Michaloliakos (who went on to lead Golden Dawn) as EPEN's youth leader, remained in this position until 1990.

During his compulsory military service from 1992 to 1993, Voridis graduated class leader (92 A' ESSO) in Armour School and he served as an Armour Cadet Reserve Officer, gaining the rank of second lieutenant.

In 1994, he founded the far-right Hellenic Front party and became its first president. He unsuccessfully ran for the position of Athens mayor in 1998 and 2002. The Front's motto was "Red Card to the Illegal Immigrants", and he ran together with Konstantinos Plevris in the national elections of 2000. The Hellenic Front under the chairmanship of Voridis performed lamentably in the 2004 general election and managed to gather only 7000 (0.1%) votes. As a result of this, the Hellenic Front ceased its political activity in 2005 and was subsequently merged with the more successful Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) party. Voridis became a member of the political council of LAOS. Voridis later competed for a council seat in the 2006 local elections on the LAOS ticket in East Attica. He eventually secured 5% of the vote and was elected prefectural councillor.

Parliamentary career

On 16 September 2007, Makis Voridis was elected Member of the Greek Parliament with LAOS, calling up 8,663 votes in the Attica district, with a potential difference of 5174 votes from the second candidate, Tania Iakovidou, a TV journalist.[citation needed]

In November 2011, Voridis was appointed Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Networks in the coalition government headed by Lucas Papademos. In February 2012, he was expelled from LAOS for supporting the second bailout package but retained his portfolio after consultations with the prime minister. A few days later, he joined New Democracy and surrendered his parliamentary seat to LAOS. As Minister, Voridis was supposed to open up professions like taxi drivers, a measure he has previously opposed on multiple occasions.

On 10 June 2014, Voridis was appointed Minister for Health, despite significant concern from Jewish and other groups.

On 9 July 2019, he was appointed Minister for Rural Development and Food in the cabinet of New Democracy leader and prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. On 5 January 2021, he was appointed Minister for the Interior.

Controversy

According to a former fellow student at Athens College, writing in Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Voridis formed the fascist student group "Free Pupils" that painted the walls with swastikas and saluted each other using the Nazi-era greeting "Heil Hitler." It was further alleged that during school elections, Voridis would violently threaten the Jewish students who opposed his fascist group, as well as their families.

In an interview with The Guardian, Voridis denied allegations of crypto-fascism, antisemitism and homophobia, describing himself as a national liberal with a rightwing student activist background. Voridis has also expressed views against illegal immigration. The article's author describes him as a former "axe-wielding fascist" who "does not deny he is a reconstructed fascist". His presence in government has been met with alarm by Jewish and leftist groups.


This page was last updated at 2024-03-15 13:45 UTC. Update now. View original page.

All our content comes from Wikipedia and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.


Top

If mathematical, chemical, physical and other formulas are not displayed correctly on this page, please useFirefox or Safari