Antonis N. Manitakis

Antonis Manitakis was born in Thessaloniki in 1944, where he grew up and studied law. He earned his doctorate in law from the Free University of Brussels and, in 1982, was elected as a professor at the Law School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (succeeding Aristovoulos Manesis). There, he taught courses in Constitutional Law, Political Science, Constitutional Freedoms, and Judicial Review of the Constitutionality of Laws at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels until his retirement in September 2011. He also served as a visiting professor at the Universities of Montpellier (1987), Paris X (1989), Rome (1994), and Nantes (2002), and worked as a visiting researcher at Princeton University in the USA (1998-99). Additionally, from 2004 to 2010, he taught European Constitutional Law topics at the summer seminars of the Law School of the University of Montpellier. He served as Deputy President of the National Council for Radio and Television (1997-1999) and actively participates in the activities of the European Social Forum. He is a founding member of the Thessaloniki Citizens' Association for the Environment and Culture, president of the National Commission for Human Rights, and president of the Constitutional Law Group "Aristovoulos Manesis." In 2007, he was honored by the President of the Republic with the Award for Excellence in University Teaching, given in memory of professors Xanthopoulos and Pneumatikos, under the auspices of the National Research Foundation. On May 17, 2012, he was appointed as the interim Minister of the Interior in the government of Panagiotis Pikrammenos, which was responsible for conducting the general elections. In June 2012, following a proposal from the Democratic Left party (DIMAR), he joined the government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras as Minister of Administrative Reform and Electronic Governance. He served in this role until the Democratic Left's withdrawal from the tripartite coalition government in June 2013.