“Shipping is the antidote and the answer to every crisis and Greece is constantly getting stronger because of shipping” pointed out the new Minister of Shipping during the handover ceremony.

“Welcome to your home basically”. With these words, the outgoing Minister of Shipping and Island Policy welcomed Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, who returned after almost 10 years from his previous term as minister.

“I was, am and will be a man of the sea”, was the answer of Miltiadis Varvistsiotis who, among other things, pointed out in his speech that “shipping is the antidote and the answer to every crisis. Greece, because of shipping, is constantly growing stronger and stronger at a diplomatic, political and national level.

Miltiadis Varvitsiotis is a Greek lawyer and politician who served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from July 2019 to May 2023. He has been a Member of Parliament for Athens B2 with New Democracy since 2000, and currently represents the constituency B2 of the Western Sector of Athens.

He was elected Member of Parliament with New Democracy for the first time in the District of Athens B in the elections of 2000 and then in the elections of 2004, 2007 and 2009, May and June 2012, January 2015 and September 2015. In the National elections of July 7, 2019, he was elected as the first Member of Parliament in the district of the Western Sector of B Athens.

He was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from January 2009 to October of the same year, when the Government changed, with responsibility for economic diplomacy and development aid.

He was the Minister of Shipping and Island Policy from June 2013 to January 2015.

From September 2007 to January 2009 and from July 2012 to June 2013, he was the President of the Standing Committee on National Defense and Foreign Affairs of the Parliament, while he has also participated in many other Parliamentary Committees. He is a regular member of the Parliamentary Assemblies of the Council of Europe from 2004 until today.

On October 9, 2018, he was elected Vice-President of the European People’s Party in the Parliamentary Group of the Council of Europe. On July 9, 2019, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, with responsibility for the European affairs of the country.