Zoe Konstantopoulou
Ζωή Κωνσταντοπούλου
Konstantopoulou in 2015
Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament
In office
6 February 2015 – 4 October 2015
PresidentKarolos Papoulias
Prokopis Pavlopoulos
Preceded byVangelis Meimarakis
Succeeded byNikos Voutsis
President of the Course of Freedom
Assumed office
19 April 2016
Preceded byPosition established
Member of the Hellenic Parliament
Assumed office
25 June 2023
ConstituencyAthens B1
In office
6 May 2012 – 28 August 2015
ConstituencyAthens A
Personal details
Born (1976-12-08) 8 December 1976
Athens, Greece
Political partySyriza (2012–2015)
Popular Unity (2015–2016)
Course of Freedom (since 2016)
Parent(s)Nikos Konstantopoulos,
Lina Alexiou
Alma materNational and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Paris Nanterre University
Pantheon-Sorbonne University

Columbia University
Profession
  • Politician
  • Lawyer
Websitewww.zoikonstantopoulou.gr

Zoe Konstantopoulou (Greek: Ζωή Κωνσταντοπούλου; born 8 December 1976) is a Greek politician of the political left, who served as Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament from February to October 2015. Since 2016 she has been the president of the Course of Freedom.[1]

Life

Born on 8 December 1976, in Athens, Konstantopoulou is the daughter of former Synaspismos leader and lawyer Nikos Konstantopoulos and journalist Lina Alexiou. Both her parents were leading figures in Greece's anti-dictatorship struggle.

She is a graduate of the Athens University and Paris Nanterre University law schools. She obtained a DEA at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University on European criminal law and criminal policy in Europe and an LL.M. at Columbia Law School with a focus on international law, human rights and criminal law.

As a lawyer, Konstantopoulou was criticized by women's organisations and by the Greek branch of Helsinki Monitor for repeatedly delaying the trial of one of her clients, a rapist, by raising procedural obstacles.[2] Originally to be held in 2006, the man was not finally convicted until 2012. The River leader and MP Stavros Theodorakis regularly taunted Konstantopoulou in parliament about her role in what became known as the "rapist with the tyropita (cheese pies)" scandal.[3] In Parliament, Konstantopoulou switched off Theodorakis's microphone when he was speaking about her role in the affair.[4]

Parliamentary life

Zoi Konstantopoulou in July 2015, after the referendum.

Konstantopoulou was elected to the Greek Parliament on her first attempt in May 2012 as a candidate with Syriza. She was re-elected in the June 2012 and January 2015 elections.

From 2012 to 2014, she was responsible for the justice, transparency and human rights brief for Syriza. She wrote the Black Book of Shame, which lists what Syriza considered political and financial scandals.[5]

On 6 February 2015, she was elected parliamentary speaker, with a record number of 235 out of 300 votes, from her own as well as from the Independent Greeks, The River, PASOK and New Democracy parties.[6][7]

At her initiative, the parliament established the Truth Committee on Public Debt, with the mandate to audit Greece’s public debt,[8] and the Committee on German Reparations, with a mandate to pursue Greek claims against Germany from the Nazi occupation, including reparations to victims, reimbursement of the “forced loan” taken by the occupation forces and the return of the stolen archaeological treasures. During her term as speaker, she was elected chair of the Committee on Institutions and Transparency and initiated two anti-corruption investigations on two major corruption cases: the Siemens scandal (entailing bribery and money laundering of government officials by Siemens) and the Lagarde List (involving alleged large-scale tax-evasion and economic crime by political personnel and the country’s economic, media and banking elites).

Political activity since 2015

In the summer of 2015, she left Syriza. In the September 2015 Parliamentary Elections, she ran as an MP for Popular Unity[9] but the party narrowly fell short of the parliamentary threshold.

In April 2016, Konstantopoulou launched a new party, Course of Freedom.[10]

In the 2019 and May 2023 general elections, the party came in seventh and eighth place, respectively, but did not manage to enter Parliament. She was elected back to Parliament following the June 2023 elections, with her party winning 8 seats.

References

  1. ↑ Fouskas, Vassilis K.; Dimoulas, Constantine (14 March 2018). Greece in the 21st Century: The Politics and Economics of a Crisis. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-04750-0.
  2. ↑ "Parallel Report on Greece's compliance with the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women : An Update (June 2012 – January 2013)" (PDF). OHCHR. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  3. ↑ "Stavros, Zoe and …6 postponements in trial of 'cheese pie rapist'". Proto Thema. 15 July 2015. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  4. ↑ "Θεοδωράκης προς ΣΥΡΙΖΑ: Είστε κομματικοί υπάλληλοι!" (in Greek). gazzetta.gr. 27 June 2015. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  5. ↑ "Zoi Konstantopoulou, Greece's Madame Speaker And Syriza Secret Weapon - Worldcrunch". worldcrunch.com. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  6. ↑ "Το εξώδικο της Ζωής Κωνσταντοπούλου για άρθρο των "Νέων"". ΤΑ ΝΕΑ (in Greek). 21 December 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  7. ↑ "Zoe Konstantopoulou elected youngest ever House president". Times of Change. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  8. ↑ Gyparakis, Paris (1 May 2016). "The Illegality of the Greek Sovereign Debt Crisis: Contract Law's Response to the Greek Government". Journal of International Business and Law. 16 (1): 136. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  9. ↑ "Lafazanis: Drachma not a catastrophe for Greece". Proto Thema. 8 September 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  10. ↑ Evgenia Choros (15 April 2016). "Zoe Konstantopoulou to Present New Party 'Course of Freedom'". Greek Reporter. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
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