Giorgos Vassiliou
Γιώργος Βασιλείου
Giorgos Vassiliou, talking in an online event in 2021
Vassiliou in 1992
3rd President of Cyprus
In office
28 February 1988 – 28 February 1993
Preceded bySpyros Kyprianou
Succeeded byGlafcos Clerides
1st President of United Democrats
In office
1996–2005
Succeeded byMichalis Papapetrou
Member of the Cypriot House of Representatives
In office
1996–2001
Personal details
Born (1931-05-20) 20 May 1931
Famagusta, Cyprus
(now disputed)
Political partyUnited Democrats (Enomeni Dimokrates)
SpouseAndroulla Vassiliou
Children3
Alma materUniversity of London

Giorgos Vasos Vassiliou (Greek: Γιώργος Βασιλείου; born 20 May 1931) is a Cypriot politician, who served as President of Cyprus from 1988 to 1993. He was also the President of United Democrats from 1996 to 2005 and Member of the Cypriot House of Representatives from 1996 to 2001. Prior to entering politics, he was a successful businessman.

As President, he oversaw a successful period of both social and economic reform. This included the dismantling of the system of gathering information on politically active citizens. He sought to find a diplomatic solution to the Cyprus Problem, but was unable to do so and ultimately lost re-election.

Early life

Vassiliou was born in Famagusta, British Cyprus, to a Greek Cypriot family.[1] His father, Vasos, was a member of the central committee of the Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL), the Cypriot communist party. He was a doctor by profession, and volunteered as a doctor on the side of the Communists in the Greek Civil War. During the civil war, the rest of the Vassiliou family settled in Hungary.

Vassiliou himself went to university in Hungary and was a student of Imre Nagy. He fled Hungary following the Soviet invasion and continued his studies at the University of London. In 2018, György Markó's book The Rambo of Pest revealed that Vassiliou was a spy of the counter-intelligence in the Rákosi era, and after 1956 he was an inforant for the Ministry of Interior under the name 'Gergely', and he reported on the economist János Kornai, among others.[2]

Presidency

He was elected president as an independent candidate with support from AKEL in 1988, succeeding Spyros Kyprianou, who had served two presidential terms. During his time in office, Cyprus experienced economic growth and he was responsible for a number of reforms including stopping the police practice of keeping files on Cypriot citizens' political beliefs. He worked towards a negotiated solution to the Cyprus dispute based on the Ghali set of ideas, although the dispute remained unresolved by the time he left office in 1993.

Post-presidency

After he lost the 1993 elections to Glafkos Klerides, he founded the Free Democrats Movement and he was elected president of the party. He was elected member of the Cypriot Parliamient, while his political party won two seats (out of 56) in the Parliamentary Elections in 1996. The same year the party was merged with the political party ADISOK and formed a new party United Democrats. He was also elected president of the United Democrats and remained its leader until 2005. In the Parliamentary Elections of 2001, his party lost one of its seats and he wasn't re-elected. After the Cyprus referendum of 2004, in which he was a strong supporter of the Annan Plan, he resigned from the presidency of United Democrats due to the population's rejection of the plan.

Vassiliou was the Chief Negotiator of Cyprus for its accession to the European Union from 1998 to 2003.

Political ideology

He is a strong supporter of European unity and recently co-signed George Soros' open letter calling for more European unity amidst the currency turmoil surrounding the increased usage of the Euro as a single currency for the continent.[3] Vassiliou takes active part in international political and social organisations and events. He is currently a member of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation, jointly chaired by Poland's ex-President Aleksander Kwaśniewski and President of the European Jewish Congress Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor. ECTR is designed to monitor tolerance in Europe and prepare recommendations to national governments and IGOs in respect of fighting xenophobia, extremism and anti-Semitism.

Personal life

Vassiliou has three children and is married to Androulla Vassiliou.

In 2014, Vassiliou published a book about his life before presidency called 'Odyssey'. In 2015, he began writing a sequel to his book about his life as president of Cyprus.

Honours

Foreign honours

References

  1. ↑ The International Who's Who, 1997-98. Europa Publications. 23 November 1997. ISBN 9781857430226 – via Google Books.
  2. ↑ Márk, Herczeg (6 June 2018). "Egy magyar történész kiderítette, hogy a volt ciprusi elnök évekig az ÁVH ügynöke volt, majd 1959-ben Kornai Jánosékról jelentett". 444. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  3. ↑ As concerned europeans we urge eurozone leaders to unite, retrieved on 20 February.
  4. ↑ Prime Minister of Malta Website, Honorary Appointments to the National Order of Merit Archived 7 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 The International Who's Who 2004 /Europa Publications

Further reading

  • The Economist (US) | 27 February 1988 article "His own man, Cypriot President George Vassiliou"
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