Ioannis Varvitsiotis

Ioannis Varvitsiotis (Greek Ιωάννης Βαρβιτσιώτης; born August 2, 1933, Athens ) is a Greek New Democracy politician, lawyer, long-time parliamentarian and from 2004 to 2009 Member of the European Parliament.

Varvitsiotis studied law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. After graduation he continued his studies in Germany and specialized in international law.

For many years he worked with Constantine Karamanlis, leader of the Greek conservatives. In 1961 he applied for the first time in the Greek Parliament and was re-elected several times from 1974 to 2000 for the New Democracy party.

He filled a number of government functions as Deputy Minister of the Interior and of Foreign Affairs (1974-1975), Board of Trade (1975-1977), Minister of Education and Religious Affairs (1977-1980), Minister of Justice (1992 ) and twice of Defense ( 1989, 1990-1993).

In 2004 he was elected for the sixth term of the European Parliament. He belonged to the group of Christian Democrats of the European People's Party and was a member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and substitute member of the Committee on Culture and Education. In the European Parliament he remained until 2009 and did not stand for re -election.