Vasilis Efraimidis
Vasilis Efraimidis or Vassilis Ephremidis (Greek: Βασίλης Εφραιμίδης; 31 December 1915 – 15 August 2000)[1] was a Greek journalist, editor and politician of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).
Biography
[edit]A refugee from Akdağmadeni, he moved to Athens as a child and studied law.[2] He fought in WWII, and became part of EAM during the occupation, becoming the director its press department after the liberation, for which he was imprisoned in 1947.[1][2] Released in 1951, from 1952 to 1956, Ephremidis was chief editor and director of the leftist newspaper I Avgi. He was elected to the Hellenic Parliament with EDA from his release until the outset of the military dictatorship, when he fled to Western Europe.[2] From 1981 to 1999, he was a Member of European Parliament (MEP).
Member of European Parliament
[edit]When in 1981 Greece became a member of the European Community, Efraimidis was elected a Member of the European Parliament in the first Greek European Parliament by-election. He was re-elected in 1984, 1989 and 1994.
In 1982 he was elected vice chair of the Communist and Allies Group, and kept his office while the parliamentary group in 1989 was renamed to Left Unity and in 1995 merged to today's European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL).
On 19 July 1994, aged 79, he was the second-oldest Member of the European Parliament. After Otto von Habsburg abstained from exercising his privilege, Efraimidis was entitled to preside over the chamber during the election of the new session's president. Following the controversy over far-right politician Claude Autant-Lara's 1989 opening speech, Efraimidis restricted himself to some reconciliatory opening words.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Ta Nea, Vasilis Efraimidis passes away, 16-8-2000.
- ^ a b c Epochi, rizospastis gr | Synchroni (2000-09-24). "rizospastis.gr - Πώς να τον ξεχάσεις;". ΡΙΖΟΣΠΑΣΤΗΣ. Retrieved 2022-12-10.
- ^ Brunner, Benedikt (2012). Der Alterspräsident: Ein Konstituierungsreglement und seine Alternativen (in German). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. p. 145 f. ISBN 978-3-531-18647-4.
External links
[edit]- Personal profile of Vasilis Efraimidis in the European Parliament's database of members
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- 1915 births
- 2000 deaths
- Politicians from Athens
- Communist Party of Greece MEPs
- Coalition of Left, of Movements and Ecology MEPs
- MEPs for Greece 1981–1984
- MEPs for Greece 1984–1989
- MEPs for Greece 1989–1994
- MEPs for Greece 1994–1999
- Writers from Athens
- Pontic Greeks
- 20th-century Greek journalists
- People from Akdağmadeni
- Recipients of the Cross of Valour (Greece)
- Greek MPs 1951–1952
- Greek MPs 1956–1958
- Greek MPs 1958–1961
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- Greek MPs 1963–1964
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- United Democratic Left politicians
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