Professional Experience:
I have been involved in politics for 13 years in Greece witnessing the complete spectrum of a society from the pinnacle of welfare (Olympic Games 2004) to the lowest point of a humanitarian and economical crisis.
So, after being a front line journalist ( 1985 -2003) , it was my own decision to become a front line politician as well with regular appearances in the media fighting for my political ideas.
This political leadership was exercised , however, in conditions of social turmoil with people suffering heavy pay cuts and massive layoffs.
That being said, the posts of Mayor ( 2002-2006) , Member of Parliament ( 2007-2014) and Minister of Internal Affairs (2014) , helped me shape clear skills and understanding of actively dealing with humanitarian, political, communication , media , social, security and administrative issues as well as legislative, corruption fighting , disaster and emergency matters in a period of violent, social and economical changes.
Furthermore , in my long career as war correspondent ( covering wars , revolutions , conflicts, disasters all over the world) ) , I developed the skills of working in high risk and crisis management situations.
To give an example , I took quick decisions under war conditions ( in Bosnia , Iraq, Afghanistan , to mention only few belligerent territories) when any choice could be crucial for our lives ( my own and that of my TV crew members)
Later on , as a politician , I faced dilemmas and was forced to make equally hard decisions concerning, this time, the lives of thousands of citizens.
Within six months , for instance , as a Minister of Internal Affairs, I implemented difficult reforms for the bailout of indebted municipalities with high political cost in order to keep Greece within the Euro zone.
But even from the very beginning of my political career , as a Mayor , I managed to operate effectively in everyday level. The simplest , collect the garbage and make clean the city.
This was, also, a result of hard work and equally hard decisions ( for example privatization – against Unions protests- of the city cleaning service) judged daily by the citizens.
This capacity of producing substantive results was first developed in investigating journalism and then , in the investigating committees of the Parliament , with the disclosure of various political scandals.
Hence , problems solving , decision making and delivering results, under high pressure conditions , have been the main features of my career as journalist and politician.
My law studies and , although short –term, experience in practicing law offered me the necessary infrastructure to deal with the legal aspects of all the above issues.
Thus , from being a lawyer in the court, I adapted to the profession of war correspondent and moved on to become politician and Minister of Internal Affairs
So I am in full capacity and in excellent psychological and physical conditions to adapt again myself to fi