Founder and Honorary President

Dimitris Th. Tsatsos (1933-2010)

Dimitris T. Tsatsos was born in Athens in 1933. He studied law in Athens and obtained his PhD in 1960. He was trustee in the Law School of the University of Heidelberg from 1960 to 1969. From 1964 to 1965 he worked as an associate in the field of Comparative and International Law at the Max-Planck Institute. He was elected Assistant Professor of Constitutional Law in the University of Athens in 1968. The same year he became Assistant Professor of Constitutional, Administrative and Comparative Law in University of Bonn. In 1969 he became professor of law in the Law School of the University of Thessaloniki. The political regime of the time refused to appoint him and detained him as a political prisoner from March to September 1973. In 1974 he served as Deputy Minister of Higher Education in the Government of National Unity, where he oversaw the removal of all pro-junta professors from Universities and drafted the first framework legislation. He was appointed General Minority Rapporteur for the new Constitution in the fifth Revised Parliament (1974-1975). In 1995 he received the “European Culture Award” for his contribution to the institutional reform of Europe. And in 2002 he received the “Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit” of the Federal Republic of Germany. From 1995 to 1999 he served as a member of the European Parliament’s Delegation to the Inter-institutional Conference. In 2001 he was unanimously proclaimed Doctor honoris causa Professor at the Law Faculty of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Professorships: 1971 Bonne, 1975 Thessaloniki, 1979 Hagen, 2003 Universität of Düsseldorf. Honorary president of the Centre for European Constitutional Law -“Themistokles and Dimitris Tsatsos Foundation”, co-director of the “Institute for European Constitutional Sciences” of the University of Hagen, President of the Scientific Council of the “Political Parties Law Institute” in Düsseldorf and if the “Local self-governance Institute” in Athens.

Dimitris Th. Tsatsos (1933-2010)  

President

Professor Xenophon I. Contiades

Xenophon Contiades is Professor of Public Law at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences and Managing Director of the “Centre for European Constitutional Law – Themistokles and Dimitris Tsatsos Foundation” (Athens, Greece).

Convenor of the “Research Group on Constitution-Making and Constitutional Change” of the International Association of Constitutional Law. Member of the Scientific Council of the Dimitris Tsatsos Institute for European Constitutional Sciences (Hagen, Germany).

Recent publications

• The Foundations and Traditions of the Constitutional Amendment , X. Contiades/A. Fotiadou/R. Albert (Eds), Hart Publishing, 2017
• Participatory Constitutional Change: The People as Amenders of the Constitution, X. Contiades/A. Fotiadou (Eds), Routledge, 2017
• Constitutions in the Global Financial Crisis. A comparative analysis, Ashgate, 2013
• Engineering Constitutional Change. A Comparative Perspective on Europe, Canada and the USA, Routledge, 2012
• On Resilience of Constitutions. What Makes Constitutions Resistant to External Shocks? (with Dr. A. Fotiadou) in: “Vienna Journal on International Constitutional Law”, 1/2015
• Socio-economic rights, economic crisis and legal doctrine: A reply to D. Bilchitz (with Dr. A. Fotiadou), in: “International Journal of Constitutional Law”, 3/2014, pp. 747-750
• Constitutional Law in Greece (with Dr. A. Fotiadou), in: L.F.M. Besselink, P.P.T. Bovend’Eert, H. Broeksteeg, R. de Lange and W. Voermans (eds), Constitutional Law of the EU Member States, Kluwer Law International, 2014, pp. 703-772
• The debt crisis proving ground: social rights theory revisited (with Dr. Α. Fotiadou), in “Annuaire International des Droits de l’Homme”, Volume VII 2012-2013, 2014, pp. 573-582
• Social rights in the age of proportionality (with Dr. A. Fotiadou), in: “International Journal of Constitutional Law”, issue 10(3)/2012, pp. 660-686
• Constitution-writing processes. (with J. Widner), in: M. Tushnet/Th. Fleiner/Ch. Saunders (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Constitutional Law, Routledge 2012, pp. 57-69.

English CV

Members

1. Anastasios I. Metaxas, Vice Presindent,  Professor Emeritus, University of Athens
2. Spyros Tsantinis, Secretary, Assistant Professor, Democritus University of Thrace
3. Sotiris Georgouleas, Economist
4. Dimitris Kairidis, Associate Professor, Panteion University, Athens
5. Kourkoulas Dimitrios, former Director of the European Commission
6. Kyriopoulos John, Professor Emeritus, University of Athens
7. Maria Mousmouti, PhD, Attorney at Law
8. Ambassador Dimitris Platis, Executive Director – International Business Affairs, Mitilineos Holdings
9. Philippos Spiropoulos, Professor, University of Athens
10. Giannis Tasopoulos , Professor, University of Athens

The German constitutional law professor Peter Häberle has been appointed Honorary President of the Centre.