Minister of Foreign Affairs
Which position did Nikos Kotzias hold after Oct 2015?
Nikos Kotzias Nikolaos Kotzias , ( ; born 21 December 1950 ) is a Greek politician and diplomat who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2015 to 2018 . He was Foreign Minister from 23 September 2015 until his resignation on 17 October 2018 ; previously he held the same post from 27 January to 28 August 2015 . Nominated by SYRIZA , he was sworn in as a member of the Cabinet of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in January 2015 . Early life and career . Kotzias studied Economics ( Diploma ) and Political Science and Philosophy ( MA ) in Athens and Law and Politics of European Integration ( PhD and Post-doc ) at the University of Giessen in Germany . According to his online biography worked as a researcher and taught at the Universities of Marburg , Oxford and Cambridge and he holds from 2008 on the position of Professor of Political Theories and International and European Studies at the University of Piraeus . He has specialized in issues of policy and political systems , societies and foreign policy of Brazil , India and Russia . He has been a member of many globally recognized international research teams on contemporary issues . In addition to numerous other publications , he wrote 24 scientific books , published the German philosopher in the tradition of critical theory Jürgen Habermas in Greece and also released a collection of poems . Political career . Kotzias was active as a student in the Lambrakis Democratic Youth and during the right-wing military dictatorship in Greece was a member of the Communist Youth of Greece . He was a secretary of the Federation of Greek Fraternities in Germany as well as the coordination point of the anti-dictatorship student organizations . Later he was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece and was repeatedly condemned by military courts . During his years in the Greek Communist Party , he became the partys ideological instructor . He was often praised for his masterful rhetoric and his profound knowledge of Marxist philosophy . During the 1980s , he praised the Polish governments crackdown on the Solidarity movement . Kotzias broke with the Communist Party after the majoritys decision to co-ally with the conservatives in order to bring Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou to trial for corruption . Along with other party members , he characterized that decision as an unholy alliance and declared their resignation which subsequently led to the creation of a new leftist group . He is a founding member of Nikos Poulantzas leftist think tank , which was named after a Franco-Greek , Marxist oriented sociologist and political philosopher . From 1993 to 2008 , he was in the diplomatic service in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs , with the rank of ambassador beginning in 2005 . As a chief diplomat , he was involved in negotiations on the Amsterdam Treaty , Agenda 2000 , the Greek-Turkish relations and the European Constitution . Kotzias played an important role during the spring of the Greek-Turkish relations in 1999 , implementing the earthquake diplomacy at the time when the two countries were struck by catastrophic earthquakes . He has supported the Greek-Turkish rapprochement as a new policy doctrine and introduced the confidence-building measures ( CBMs ) . He was also the Greek representative in the 2002 Helsinki agreement which regulated Turkeys candidacy status for EU membership and paved the way for Cyprus accession in 2004 . In September 2012 , Kotzias founded the progressive and democratic political movement named Pratto , whose purpose is to form a radical , patriotic , democratic and social movement , advocating the interests of the country , the Greek people , the workers and the Greek natural environment . Current Minister of Public Order and Citizen Protection and MP Nikos Toskas is also a founding member of Pratto . In one of his interviews in Spiegel Online on 9 February 2015 he noted that he is an atheist . He speaks Greek , German as native and fluent English . Since January 2015 Kotzias is Foreign Minister in a cabinet in coalition with Independent Greeks , a right wing conservative party that also opposes austerity . Foreign policy views . Nikos Kotzias is an advocate of a multidimensional , energetic and democratic attitude towards foreign policy . He supports the view that even a relatively small state , in terms of economic power , can take advantage of the changes that occur in a global context and increase its capacities to allow it to exercise an autonomous foreign policy according to the national interest . Supporting the view that the world has already begun to move towards multipolarity , Kotzias believes that states that wish to increase their influence and capacities should seek to forge concrete relations with the emerging powers ( BRICS ) . Debt colony theory . In one of his latest books The Colony of Debt , Nikos Kotzias claims that the European Union is developing empire characteristics , as it perceives markets , the bureaucracy in Brussels and Germany as focal elements of its structure . In this way , he argues , the EU is rendering in a two-tier region of a rich North and poor South . Minister of Foreign Affairs . On 27 January 2015 , Nikos Kotzias was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs , despite not being a member of parliament . During the ceremony of the handing of the ministry , Kotzias gave a notion of his political approach stating : We look forward to bridges with the new emerging world . We do not see our membership in European institutions as conflictual to our relations with emerging powers . In the same night of Kotziass appointment , the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement , issuing Greeces unwillingness to agree to key passage of statement , delaying agreement for further EU sanctions against Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine , before the extraordinary meeting of the EU Council of Foreign Ministers , which was scheduled on 29 January 2015 in Brussels . The new minister argued that certain of our partners attempted to present us with a fait accomplis before the new government had even been sworn . He also underlined that Greece would not relinquish its sovereignty and active contribution to European policy as this would be an act that circumvents a vital principle of Europeanism . The 29 January meeting resulted to an improved and softened version of the statement , extending the ongoing sanctions but avoiding to include further measures , mainly due to the position that the Greek minister held . Federica Mogherini , the European Unions High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy , stated that Kotziass attitude was extremely constructive during the meeting and that this was an extremely positive exercise which led to a consensual and substantial decision . Second term as Minister of Foreign Affairs and resignation . After the announcement for early legislative elections on 20 September 2015 , Nikos Kotzias was nominated as a candidate on SYRIZA national ballots after the agreement of Pratto to co-ally with SYRIZA , and he was elected as a member of the Greek Parliament . On 23 September 2015 , after the formation of a coalition government between SYRIZA and Independent Greeks , Kotzias was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs for a second time , succeeding the caretaker minister Petros Molyviatis . On 17 October 2018 Kotzias submitted his resignation , a day after a cabinet meeting during which he clashed over the Prespa agreement with Defense Minister Panos Kammenos , who has opposed the deal . He was succeeded by then PM Alexis Tsipras . Selected books and articles . - Poland and Ourselves . Synchroni Epochi ( 1981 ) - Globalization , The historical place and the future . Kastaniotis Publications ( 2003 ) - The active democratic State . Nation State and Globalization ( co-written with Petros Liacouras ) Kastaniotis Publications ( 2004 ) - EU–US Relations : Repairing the Transatlantic Rift . ( ed . with Petros Liacouras ) Palgrave Macmillan ( 2006 ) - Beyond high politics : Promise and limits of rapprochement . In : Anastasakis et al. : In the Long Shadow of Europe : Greeks and Turks in the Era of Postnationalism , Brill , 2009 , - Greek Foreign Policy on the 21st Century . For a new , active , democratic strategy in the era of Globalisation Kastaniotis publications ( 2010 ) - The Rescue politics against Troika and the democratic Greece Livanis Publications ( 2012 ) - Greece , a Debt Colony . European Empire and German Primacy Patakis publications ( 2013 ) - Patriotism and the Left Patakis Publications ( 2014 ) Honours . Kotzias has been awarded the following foreign orders : - Grand Cross of the Order of Merit ( Portugal ) - 30 January 2017