Marietta Giannakou, Member of State of the New Democracy, passed away at the age of 71 from a heart attack.
The New Democracy State MP was battling for several weeks in the ICU of the Air Force General Hospital 251. She was rushed to the hospital after she had a fall in her wheelchair and then had to undergo surgery as doctors found she had a hematoma.
Who was Marietta Giannakou
She was born on June 6, 1951, in Geraki, Laconia, from a family where her father ran the local office of OTE and the post office, while her mother was a teacher. She also has a sister who is four years younger. At the age of 11 she lost her father, who was then 45 years old, which, according to her, "took a toll on her" and played a decisive role in her later career, as it "made her feel more responsibility from such a young age."
After finishing school, she succeeded in gaining admission to the Medical School of the University of Athens, although her father intended her to be a diplomat. After completing her studies in medicine, she specialized in psychiatry while continuing her studies at the University of Ghent, Belgium.
Although devoted to politics, she married Panagiotis Koutsikos in 1983, with whom she had a daughter.
Marietta Giannakou's life changed on 6 February 2008, when she underwent amputation of her right leg after suffering a fracture. The diabetes mellitus she was suffering from prevented the wound from healing and caused an infection, causing her health condition to deteriorate rapidly. This forced the doctors at the Henry Dunant Hospital to hold an emergency meeting and decide to carry out an amputation operation in order to save her life. On 28 May 2016, Marietta Giannakou suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized at the Red Cross Hospital.
After 1974, she became actively involved in politics as a member of ONNED, when she met the president and founder of New Democracy, Konstantinos Karamanlis. Although she had not decided to become more broadly involved in politics, the state of Greek higher education gave her the impetus and from then on her career on the political scene was constantly on the rise. In the 1984 European elections she was elected as a Member of the European Parliament and in 1989 she was appointed head of the ND's European candidate list.
As a Member of the European Parliament in 1984-1990, she was Chairman of the Committee of Inquiry into the problem of drugs in the Member States of the European Union, Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Women's Rights, member of the Committees on Social Affairs and Employment, Transport, Budgetary Control, Economic, Monetary and Industrial Policy, member of the European Parliament's Delegation for relations with Latin American countries and permanent rapporteur on production and trade, etc. She was also Head of the delegation of New Democracy MEPs to the European Parliament and a member of the Political Bureau of the European People's Party parliamentary group.
Her term of office in government began with the 1990 parliamentary elections, when she became Minister of Health, Welfare and Social Security in 1990-1991. In the 1993 parliamentary elections, she was elected as a member of the Athens A' of the New Democracy party, beginning her parliamentary term.
Between 1993 and 1999 she was a member of the Committees on Foreign Affairs and National Defence, European Affairs, a member of the Committee on Drugs, Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the Examination of the Penitentiary System, Vice-Chairman of the Greek-US Parliamentary Friendship Group and a member of the Greek-Russian Parliamentary Friendship Group.
In 1999 he was re-elected to the European Parliament and became a member of the Committees on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy, Civil Liberties and Citizens' Rights, Justice and Home Affairs, a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Delegation "European Union Turkey", Chairman of the European Commission "Fourth World" and Head of the Delegation of the New Democracy to the European Parliament.
From 1990-2004 she was the national coordinator for drugs in the European Union and a member of the Horizontal Drugs Group of the Council of Europe. She also chaired the Balkan Axis - Near East Section of the Dublin Group of the Council of Europe.
In 2000, he was re-elected MP for Athens and was appointed Vice-Chairman of the Permanent Parliamentary Committee on European Affairs, Member of the Permanent Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs and National Defence, Member of the Inter-Party Committee on Drugs, Chairman of the Friendship Group with the Parliament of Poland, and Member of the Friendship Groups with the Parliaments of the USA and Morocco.
In 2002 he was appointed representative of the Greek Parliament to the "Convention on the Future of Europe". The Assembly's work in the Plenary and Working Groups (2002-2003) was distinguished, inter alia, by its interventions on the establishment of the defence solidarity clause between Member States and the establishment of the European Rapid Reaction Force in the field of defence, measures in favour of public health and the fight against drugs at European level, as well as support for the 'people's initiative' regulation, under which one million citizens can request a specific legislative initiative from the European institutions.
In 2004 he was re-elected as a Member of Parliament and appointed Minister of National Education and Religious Affairs for the period 2004-2007 in the government of Kostas Karamanlis. Her name is associated with an extensive attempt to reform the Greek education system. In 2007 she failed to be elected as a member of parliament. In the 2009 European elections she headed the New Democracy ticket. In the 2019 parliamentary elections, he was placed second in the New Democracy's state election ticket.
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