George Vassiliou

George Vassiliou
Giorgos Vasos Vassiliou (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. 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.
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. 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
: Honorary Companion of Honour of the National Order of Merit (28 June 1991)
: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit.
: Grand Cross of the National Order of the Legion of Honour.
: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer.
: Knight of Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
: Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry.
: Knight Grand Collar of the Order of the Nile.
References
Further reading
The Economist (US) | 27 February 1988 article "His own man, Cypriot President George Vassiliou"
External links
Arcadia
Country Studies
A new era of Cyprus
1931 births
Living people
Presidents of Cyprus
20th-century presidents of Cyprus
Alumni of the University of London
Leaders of political parties in Cyprus
People from Famagusta
United Democrats politicians