ATHENS, Feb 8 (AFP) - Carolos Papoulias, 75, elected Tuesday as Greece's new president by parliament, served for many years as foreign minister under late socialist prime minister Andreas Papandreou, implementing his pro-Arab and pro-Serb policy.
Put forward by the conservative government of Costas Karamanlis, the diplomat, who is fluent in German, very respected in Greece, reserved but at the same time friendly, was seen as an ideal consensus candidate.
In announcing Papoulias' candidacy in December, Karamanlis described him as "a political personality of compromise who enjoys a great deal of recognition in society."
"Mr Papoulias, who is not currently a parliamentarian and has the necessary distance from the political scene, proved throughout his long term in office as foreign minister that he is a man of rare moderation and considerable experience," said Karamanlis.
Born at Ioannina in north-eastern Greece, on June 4 1929, Papoulias was active as an adolescent in the anti-Nazi resistance during World War II.
After studying law in Athens, Milan in Italy and Cologne in Germany, he became a lawyer in 1963, a profession he continued until 1981 when he was nominated as junior minister for foreign affairs in the Papandreou government.
During the military dictatorship in Greece between 1967 and 1974, Papoulias was in exile in Germany from where he became one of the co-founders and central committee member of the Greece Socialist Party (PASOK).
A close ally of the populist Papandreou, Papoulias was twice foreign affairs minister between 1985-1989 and 1993-1996. He was a member of parliament from 1977 to 2000.
It was under his stewardship that Greece supported Serbia during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and especially the NATO bombings. He became the defender of the Serbian cause, attempting several times to act as intermediary between the international community and the former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic and Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic.
President of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, Papoulias was accused by the American media in 2000 of being at the centre of efforts to get Milosevic to leave power and move into exile overseas or to remain at home with guarantees for his safety.
Papoulias was also one of the authors of the pro-Arab foreign policy of Greece which built on his excellent relations with Arab political leaders such as former Syrian president Hafez-el-Assad and Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.
Married and a father of three daughters, the avid hunter was also a gifted athlete, making the national volleyball team and becoming national pole vaulting champion.
The mandate of 78-year-old President Costas Stephanopoulos, who was elected in 1995, ends in March.
02/08/2005 18:48 GMT - AFP