Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace

Former government department of Greece

Not to be confused with the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace.

Ministry of Macedonia and ThraceΥπουργείο Μακεδονίας και Θράκης
Ypourgeío Makedonías kai Thrákis

The building of the ministry in Thessaloniki
Agency overview
Formed| 1912 (1912)
Preceding agency|

* Governorate-General of Macedonia
(1912–1955)[1]
Ministry of Northern Greece
(1955–1988)[1]
Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace
(1988–7 October 2009)[1]
General Secretariat of Macedonia and Thrace
(7 October 2009–21 June 2012)

Headquarters| 32 Kassandrou Street
54633 Thessaloniki
Greece
40°38′N 22°56′E﻿ / ﻿40.633°N 22.933°E﻿ / 40.633; 22.933
Annual budget| € 12.35 million (2010)[2]
€ 21.23 million (2009)[2]
Website| www.mathra.gr
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The Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace (Greek: Υπουργείο Μακεδονίας και Θράκης, ΥΜΑΘ) is a former ministry of Greece. Responsible for the regions of Macedonia and Thrace, since 2015 it has been demoted to the level of a sub-ministry within the Ministry of the Interior. The incumbent Deputy Minister for Macedonia and Thrace is Konstantinos Gioulekas [el] of New Democracy.

The ministry had been known as the Ministry of Northern Greece until it was renamed on 19 August 1988. It was demoted to a general secretariat in 2009, but was re-established as a ministry in 2012, and again demoted to a sub-ministry within the Ministry of the Interior on 27 January 2015. It is housed in Government House in Thessaloniki.

## History

[edit]

The ministry was founded in 1912 as the Governorate-General of Macedonia (Γενικὴ Διοίκησις Μακεδονίας) following the acquisition of Macedonia during the Balkan Wars.[1] It was promoted to cabinet level in the late 1920s and renamed the Governorate-General of Northern Greece (Γενικὴ Διοίκησις Βορείου Ἑλλάδος) in 1945, after being merged with the Governorate-General of Thrace (Γενικὴ Διοίκησις Θρᾴκης).

It was renamed the Ministry of Northern Greece (Ὑπουργεῖον Βορείου Ἑλλάδος) in 1955.[1] The third name change occurred in 1988, when it was renamed the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace.[3] In 2009, the ministry was downgraded to a General Secretariat within the Ministry of the Interior, until it was re-established as a separate ministry in 2012. With the legislative election of SYRIZA in January 2015, the ministry was once more subordinated to the Ministry of the Interior and Administrative Reconstruction, headed by a deputy minister.

Shortly after the Hellenic Army entered Thessaloniki on 26 October 1912, King Constantine I demanded that he be given control of the newly acquired region of Macedonia,[4] but Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos had already decided that the fate of the region would lie with his minister of justice, Konstantinos Raktivan, who arrived in the city on 30 October.[4] His position within the Governorate-General of Macedonia was so powerful that his power matched that of the prime minister and caused dismay among the other ministers in Athens.[4] Raktivan was later succeeded by other prominent politicians of Greece, such as Stefanos Dragoumis, Emmanouil Repoulis and Themistoklis Sofoulis.

Despite its limited freedom of action in later years, the Governorate-General of Macedonia managed to produce an astonishing amount of work between its founding in 1912 and the creation of the Ministry of Northern Greece in 1955. Following the Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917, the Governorate-General appointed Ernest Hébrard as the master architect for the redesign of the city. The Governorate-General was also responsible for the complete incorporation of Macedonia into the Greek state despite the difficult circumstances of the interwar period.[4] Other successes of the Governorate-General at the time include the establishment of numerous government agencies, including the creation of Courts of Appeal, Courts of First Instance and District Courts, the creation of an independent archaeological department, a forestry department and public services, and the provision of shelter to hundreds of thousands of refugees after the population exchange between Greece and Turkey in the 1920s.[4]

## The Ministry

[edit]

### Structure

[edit]

According to Presidential Decree no. 167 (2 September 2005),[5] the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace was made up of the following departments:

* The Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace
* The Office of Solicitor of the State
* The Office of Financial Control
* The Office of the Borderland
* The Office of the Assessor of the Audit Office
* The Office of the Deputy Minister
* The Office of Defence and Political Planning in Case of Emergency
* The Office of Public Relations, of the Press and of Etiquette
* The Office of the Secretary-General
* The Secretariat
* The Office of Foreign Affairs, Defence, Policing and Justice

* Department of Cooperation with the countries of south-eastern Europe
* Department of European Affairs
* Department of the Diaspora
* Department of Defence and the Aegean
* Department of Policing and Justice

* The Office of Education, Culture and Citizen Protection
* The Office of the Economy and Tourism
* The Office of Infrastructure and the Environment
* The Office of Administrative Development and e-Governance
* The Office of the Media
* The Office of Quality and Efficiency
* The Office of Facilitation of People with Disabilities

* The Department of Inspection and Coordination of Services

### Political leadership

[edit]

Main article: Minister for Macedonia and Thrace

Since the Metapolitefsi, there have been twenty Ministers for Macedonia and Thrace from two parties, New Democracy and PASOK. The first to assume the post following the fall of the military junta in 1974 was Nikolaos Martis. Stavros Kalafatis served as the last minister before the ministry's abolition upon the election of George Papandreou in 2009.[6]

The ministry was re-established on 21 June 2012 after the election of Antonis Samaras, but was again absorbed by the Ministry of the Interior on 27 January 2015 after the election of Alexis Tsipras.

### Role

[edit]

The Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace is responsible for "the development of the border regions of Greece, giving Northern Greece the opportunity to acquire a voice and role in the political and economic processes".[5][7] In particular, the ministry gathers information regarding the communities that fall under its jurisdiction and proceeds to propose and discuss legislation and policies with other government bodies.

## List of ministers

[edit]

### Northern Greece (1974–1988)

[edit]

Name  | Took office  | Left office  | Party

|
|
|

Nikolaos Martis | 21 November 1974  | 21 October 1977  | New Democracy
Dionysios Arbouzis | 21 October 1977  | 28 November 1977
Nikolaos Martis | 28 November 1977  | 21 October 1981
Vassilis Intzes | 21 October 1981  | 5 June 1985  | PASOK
Andreas Papandreou | 5 June 1985  | 26 July 1985
Giannis Papadopoulos | 26 July 1985  | 5 February 1987
Stelios Papathemelis | 5 February 1987  | 19 August 1988

### Macedonia and Thrace (1988–2009)

[edit]

Name  | Took office  | Left office  | Party

|
|
|

Stelios Papathemelis | 19 August 1988  | 2 July 1989  | PASOK
Panayiotis Chatzinikolaou | 2 July 1989  | 12 November 1989  | New Democracy
Ioannis Deligiannis  | 12 November 1989  | 11 April 1990
Georgios Tzitzikostas | 11 April 1990  | 8 August 1991
Panayiotis Chatzinikolaou  | 8 August 1991  | 13 October 1993
Constantinos Triaridis | 13 October 1993  | 22 October 1996  | PASOK
Philippos Petsalnikos | 22 October 1996  | 30 October 1998
Giannis Magriotis | 30 October 1998  | 4 April 2000
Georgios Paschalidis | 13 April 2000  | 7 July 2003
Charis Kastanidis | 7 July 2003  | 3 March 2004
Nikos Tsiartsionis | 10 March 2004  | 15 February 2006  | New Democracy
Georgios Kalantzis | 15 February 2006  | 19 September 2007
Margaritis Tzimas | 19 September 2007  | 8 January 2009
Stavros Kalafatis [el] | 8 January 2009  | 7 October 2009

### Macedonia and Thrace (2012–2015)

[edit]

Name  | Took office  | Left office  | Party

|
|
|

Theodoros Karaoglou [el] | 21 June 2012  | 10 June 2014  | New Democracy
Giorgos Orfanos | 10 June 2014  | 27 January 2015

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e ΥΠΟΥΡΓΕΙΟ ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΙΑΣ – ΘΡΑΚΗΣ: 50 ΧΡΟΝΙΑ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑΣ – ΝΕΕΣ ΠΡΟΟΠΤΙΚΕΣ [Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace: 50 years of history - new perspectives] (in Greek). Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace. 5 December 2005. Archived from the original on 16 March 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
2. ^ a b "Budget 2010". Archived from the original on 21 December 2010. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
3. ^ Government Gazette (Greece) (ΦEK)B 575 - 19.08.1988 [1]
4. ^ a b c d e Hekimoglou, Achilleas. Υπουργείο Μακεδονίας - Θράκης: Το τέλος ενός υπουργείου [Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace: The end of a ministry] (in Greek). To Vima. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
5. ^ a b "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 June 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2010.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
6. ^ "Γενική Γραμματεία Μακεδονίας - Θράκης - ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΗ ΗΓΕΣΙΑ ΜΕΧΡΙ ΣΗΜΕΡΑ". Archived from the original on 17 February 2011. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
7. ^ "Υπουργείο Μακεδονίας - Θράκης - Ο ΡΟΛΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΥΠΟΥΡΓΕΙΟΥ". Archived from the original on 13 May 2009. Retrieved 8 May 2009.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website (in Greek and English)

Portals:

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Macedonia (Greece)

People|

* Ancient Macedonians
* List
* Macedonians (Greeks)
* List
* Jews of Thessaloniki
* Slavic speakers
* Macedonian Bulgarians, Ethnic Macedonians
* Aromanians
* Megleno-Romanians

History|

* Ancient Macedonia
* History
* Government
* Kings
* Wars of Alexander the Great
* Wars of the Diadochi
* Macedonian Wars
* Roman Macedonia
* Barbarian invasions
* Theme of Macedonia
* Theme of Thessalonica
* Theme of Strymon
* Sack of Thessalonica (904)
* Byzantine–Bulgarian wars
* Sack of Thessalonica (1185)
* Kingdom of Thessalonica
* Empire of Thessalonica
* Byzantine civil war of 1321–1328
* Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347
* Zealots of Thessalonica
* Byzantine–Ottoman wars
* Siege of Thessalonica (1422–1430)
* Ottoman Greece
* Rumelia Eyalet
* Greek War of Independence
* Manastir Vilayet
* Sanjak of Monastir
* Sanjak of Serfiğe
* Salonica Vilayet
* Sanjak of Drama
* Sanjak of Salonica
* Sanjak of Siroz
* Macedonian Struggle
* Balkan Wars
* Macedonian front
* Provisional Government of National Defence
* Axis occupation
* Greek Civil War
* Macedonia naming dispute
* Prespa agreement

Administration|

* Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace
* Western Macedonia
* Central Macedonia
* Eastern Macedonia and Thrace

Economy|

* Agios Dimitrios Power Plant
* Amyntaio Power Plant
* Drama coal mine
* Gerakini mine
* Olympias mine
* Piavitsa mine
* Port of Kavala
* Port of Thessaloniki
* Prinos oil field
* Ptolemaida-Florina coal mine
* Skouries mine
* Stratoni mine
* Thessaloniki International Fair

Major cities|

* Thessaloniki
* Kavala
* Kastoria
* Serres
* Veria
* Katerini
* Edessa
* Florina
* Drama
* Naousa
* Kozani
* Siatista
* Kilkis
* Other

Nature|

* Axios River
* Doiran Lake
* Falakro
* Galikos River
* Haliacmon
* Lake Kerkini
* Lake Koroneia
* Lake Orestiada
* Lake Prespa
* Small Prespa Lake
* Lake Vegoritida
* Lake Volvi
* Mount Paiko
* Nestos (river)
* Mount Olympus
* Pangaion Hills
* Pindus (Pindus National Park)
* Petralona cave
* Strymon River
* Vasilitsa
* Vermio Mountains
* Seli
* Verno
* Voras Mountains
* Islands: Thasos
* Ammouliani

Monuments|

* Agios Athanasios
* Alexandrion (Litochoro)
* Amphipolis
* Lion of Amphipolis
* Kasta Tomb
* Dion
* Archaeological Park
* Hellenistic theatre
* Mount Athos
* Mieza (Tomb of Judgement, Tomb of the Palmettes)
* Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki
* Pella
* Philippi
* Platamon Castle
* Vergina (Aigai)
* Museums : Archaeological Museum of Amphipolis, Aiani Archaeological Museum, Archaeological Museum of Dion, Archaeological Museum of Pella, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Museum of Byzantine culture

Culture|

* Vergina Sun
* Flag
* Music
* Cuisine

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