page_title: Nikolaos Chountis
section_title: Political career
hierarchical_section_title: Nikolaos Chountis / Political career
caption_attribution_description: English: Greek Alternate Minister of European Affairs Nikos Hountis with his successor Sia Anagnostopoulou.
context_page_description: Nikolaos Chountis is a Greek politician and former Member of the European Parliament, currently serving as General Secretary of the political party Popular Unity.
context_section_description: On 15 April 2004, Chountis succeeded Alekos Alavanos in his role as a Member of the European Parliament for Greece. Chountis served until 19 July 2004, following the 2004 European Parliament election. During this period he represented Synaspismos.
  Following the 2009 European Parliament election, Chountis was elected as a Syriza Member of European Parliament. He served until 2014 as Syriza's only MEP.
  Following the January 2015 Greek legislative election, he was elected a Member of the Hellenic Parliament for the Athens B constituency, representing Syriza. On 27 January 2015, he was appointed by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras as the Alternate Minister of European Affairs in his cabinet.
  A member of the Syriza's Left Platform, Hountis was internally opposed to the government's bridge agreement in February. On 13 July 2015, following Tsipras' agreement with the European creditors and well ahead of the parliamentary vote, Hountis resigned from his ministerial office to be replaced by Sia Anagnostopoulou. He also resigned from Parliament and was succeeded by Giorgos Kyritsis.
  Succeeding the retired Manolis Glezos on 20 July 2015, he once again became a Member of the European Parliament.
  On 26 August 2015, he defected to Popular Unity, alongside 52 other members of Syriza's central committee. He becomes Popular Unity's only MEP.
caption: Hountis with successor Sia Anagnostopoulou.
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