 Markos Kyprianou was born in Limassol on 22 January 1960. He studied Law at the Law School of the University of Athens. He attended graduate studies at Trinity College, Cambridge University, where he specialised in International Law and Tax Law and was awarded a Master’s degree in Law (LLM). He continued his studies at Harvard Law School and was awarded a Master’s degree, specialising in Company Law and Taxation. Thereafter, he worked as a trainee at the Human Rights Commission of the Council of Europe and carried out research in International Law at the University of Cambridge. He is an associate member of the American Bar Association and member of the Harvard Law School Association of Europe and member of the International Bar Association.
Professional Activities
He practised law from 1985 to 2003.
Politics
As a member of the Democratic Party (DIKO), he served as President of its Youth Organisation from 1993-1997. He is member of the Central Committee of the Democratic Party since 1986 and the Political Committee of the Party since 1990. He was also member of the Executive Bureau of the Party from 1993-1998 and in 2001.
From 1986 to 1991 he served as Municipal Councillor for the City of Nicosia. He was elected to the House of Representatives for the Nicosia District in the 1991 parliamentary elections under the banner of the Democratic Party and was re-elected in 1996 and in 2001. He resigned from the House of Representatives in March 2003, to take over as Minister of Finance.
While in the House of Representatives he served as the Parliamentary Spokesperson of the Democratic Party, Leader of the delegation of the House of Representatives to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and as a member of the Cyprus delegation to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. He also served as the Chairman of the House Standing Committee for the “Areas Close to the Demarcation Line”, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Foreign and European Affairs and member of the Committee on Legal Affairs. He was also the Chairman of the House Committee on Financial and Budgetary Affairs from 1999 to 2003.
Markos Kyprianou was appointed Minister of Finance on 1st March 2003.
When the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU on 1st May 2004, he was appointed the first Cypriot EU Commissioner responsible for budgetary affairs. On November 2004 he was reappointed EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection. On 3 March 2008 he assumed office as Minister of Foreign Affairs. |