Fotis Kouvelis

Fotis-Fanourios Kouvelis (Greek: Φώτης-Φανούριος Κουβέλης; born 3 September 1948) is a Greek lawyer and leftist politician.

Fotis Kouvelis
Φώτης Κουβέλης
Kouvelis in 2014
Minister of Shipping and Island Policy
In office 29 August 2018 – 9 July 2019
President	Prokopis Pavlopoulos
Prime Minister	Alexis Tsipras
Preceded by	Panagiotis Kouroumplis
Succeeded by	Ioannis Plakiotakis
Deputy Minister of National Defence
In office 28 February 2018 – 28 August 2018
President	Prokopis Pavlopoulos
Prime Minister	Alexis Tsipras
President of Democratic Left
In office 27 June 2010 – 7 June 2015
Succeeded by	Thanassis Theocharopoulos
Member of the Hellenic Parliament
In office 8 November 1989 – 10 October 1993
In office 25 September 1996 – 31 December 2014
Minister for Justice
In office 2 July 1989 – 12 October 1989
Preceded by	Konstantinos Stamatis
Succeeded by	Konstantinos Stamatis
Personal details
Born	(1948-09-03) 3 September 1948 (age 76) Volos, Greece
Political party	Democratic Left Synaspismós (1992–2010) Greek Left (1987–1992) KKE Interior (1975–1986)
Residence(s)	Athens, Greece
Alma mater	University of Athens
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Lawyer
Website	www.kouvelis.gr

Biography

Kouvelis was born in Volos. He studied law and political science at the University of Athens.

A member of Lambrakis Youth, he was a founding member of the Communist Party of Greece (Interior), serving, from 1975 until the party's demise, on its central committee. He was a founding member of the Greek Left party, in 1987, and was elected its general secretary on 25 June 1989, remaining in this position until 1992. He was Minister for Justice in the 1989 government of Tzannis Tzannetakis and was responsible for the legal procedures for the Koskotas scandal.^[1] Kouvelis was a MP from 1989 until 2019.

He was the leader of the Democratic Left party from 27 June 2010 until 7 June 2015.

In March 2018, he started to support the second Alexis Tsipras government. On 28 February 2018, he became deputy minister of National Defense and served as the Minister of Shipping and Island Policy from 29 August 2018 to 9 July 2019.