Katerina Sakellaropoulou has been elected Greece’s first female president following a historic parliamentary vote on Wednesday.
In this regard, 63-year-old Sakellaropoulou becomes the first woman in the history of Greece to hold the top office.
As the president, Sakellaropoulou would function as the head of the Greek state and commander-in-chief, confirm governments, laws and technically have the power to declare war, which should be in concurrence with the government.
She is the daughter of a Supreme Court judge, who, until her emergence, was a senior judge with expertise in environmental and constitutional law.
Born in Thessaloniki, Sakellaropoulou studied law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and completed her postgraduate studies in public law at Paris II University.
She served as president of the Association of the Council of State Judges in 1993–1995 and 2000–2001, as secretary-general in 1985-1986, and as vice president in 2006–2008.
She also served as a member of the Central Legislative Bill Drafting Commission in 1993-1995.
Sakellaropoulou was the president of the Disciplinary Board of the Foreign Ministry in 2013-2015. Since March 2015, she has been the president of the Hellenic Society of Environmental Law, a scientific association.
On October 2015 she was appointed as the vice president of the Council of State and became the first woman to become the president of the country’s highest court in October 2018.
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