Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced in a televised address on Wednesday evening that Ekaterini Sakellaropoulou, the first female president of the Council of State, will be his party’s candidate for the post of the President of the Hellenic Republic, the nation’s highest position.
The choice for the country’s highest office “honors both justice and the modern Greek woman,” Sakellaropoulou said after the Mitsotakis announcement, thanking the Prime Minister for the candidacy.
“I accept the proposal and, if elected, I will devote all my efforts to serving this high duty, as set out by the constitution,” the jurist said, adding that she will abstain from active legal duties as of now.
Sakellaropoulou was born in Thessaloniki in 1956 and completed her studies at the University of Athens Law School in 1978.
She also completed her legal training during a leave of absence from her Council of State (Greece’s Supreme Court) duties at the Sorbonne, Paris II University between 1989 and 1990.
Sakellaropoulou was promoted to head of the Council of State in October of 2018, proposed by the ruling SYRIZA administration of that time.
She has extensive experience in teaching, as well as an educational and Foreign Ministry consultant, and as an officer of the judges’ union.
The longtime judge has served as President of the Hellenic Society for Environmental Law since 2015, and has actively worked on large cases involving the environment, including the diversion of the Acheloos River in Thessaly and the preservation of the historic refugee buildings on Alexandras Avenue in Athens.
An author of several books, the distinguished jurist also speaks English and French.
Regarding her personal life, Sakellaropoulou is divorced and a mother of one, and she lives in central Athens.
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