MavroudisVoridis is a Greeklawyer and politician. A member of the Hellenic Parliament for New Democracy since 2012, he currently serves as the Minister for Agricultural Development and Food in the Cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis. He previously served as Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Networks in the Cabinet of Lucas Papademos and Minister for Health in the Cabinet of Antonis Samaras. Voridis graduated from Athens College and acquired his degree from the Law School of the University of Athens. He also acquired a Master of Laws with merit from University College London. Voridis specialized in international commercial law, criminal law, and the philosophy of law. During his time there, he was the leader of the fascist student group "Student Alternative".Voridis himself has denied any connection with far-right politics, instead describing himself as a national liberal. According to a former fellow student at Athens College, writing in Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Voridis formed the fascist student group "Free Pupils" that painted the walls with swastikas and saluted each other using the Nazi-era greeting "Heil Hitler." It was further alleged that during school elections, Voridis would violently threaten the Jewish students who opposed his fascist group, as well as their families. After graduating from Athens College, he was appointed secretary general of the young wing of the National Political Union, a far-right political party founded by a year earlier by the jailed leader of the 1967 military coup and junta leader Georgios Papadopoulos. Voridis, who replaced Nikolaos Michaloliakos as EPEN's youth leader, remained in this position until 1990. During his compulsory military service from 1992 to 1993, Voridis graduated class leader in Armour School and he served as an Armour Cadet Reserve Officer, gaining the rank of second lieutenant. In 1994, he founded the far-right Hellenic Front party and became its first president. He unsuccessfully ran for the position of Athens mayor in 1998 and 2002. The Front's motto was "Red Card to the Illegal Immigrants", and he ran together with Konstantinos Plevris in the national elections of 2000. The Hellenic Front under the chairmanship of Voridis performed lamentably in the 2004 general election and managed to gather only 7000 votes. As a result of this, the Hellenic Front ceased its political activity in 2005 and was subsequently merged with the more successful Popular Orthodox Rally party. Voridis became a member of the political council of LAOS. Voridis has a law office in Athens and competed for a council seat in the 2006 local elections on the LAOS ticket in East Attica. He eventually secured 5% of the vote and was elected prefectural councillor. On 16 September 2007, Makis Voridis was elected Member of the Greek Parliament with LAOS, calling up 8,663 votes in the Attica district, with a potential difference of 5174 votes from the second candidate, Tania Iakovidou, a TV journalist. In November 2011, Voridis was appointed Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Networks in the coalition government headed by Lucas Papademos. In February 2012, he was expelled from LAOS for supporting the second bailout package but retained his portfolio after consultations with the prime minister. A few days later, he joined New Democracy and surrendered his parliamentary seat to LAOS. As Minister, Voridis was supposed to open up professions like taxi drivers, a measure he has previously opposed on multiple occasions. In an interview with The Guardian, Voridis denied allegations of crypto-fascism, antisemitism and homophobia, describing himself as a national liberal with a rightwing student activist background. Voridis has also expressed views against illegal immigration. The article's author describes him as a former "axe-wielding fascist" who "does not deny he is a reconstructed fascist". His presence in government has been met with alarm by Jewish and leftist groups. On 10 June 2014, Voridis was appointed Minister for Health, despite significant concern from Jewish and other groups. On 9 July 2019, he was appointed Minister for Agricultural Development and Food in the cabinet of New Democracy leader and prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
