Spyros Kouvelis was born in Athens in 1964. He graduated in Economics from Athens Law School and went on to receive an M.Sc. in Environmental Economics from the University of Reading, in the UK.
He took office as Deputy Foreign Minister in October 2009.
He was elected as a PASOK MP for the 1st electoral district of Athens on 4 October 2009, and was elected to Parliament for the first time, on PASOK’s State electoral list, in September 2007.
During the 2007-2009 legislative sessions, he served as PASOK’s Political Representative for Environment and Physical Planning and he was a member of the following Parliamentary Friendship Groups: Greece-France, Greece-India, Greece-Azerbaijan. He also held the position of Alternate Representative of the Parliamentary Sector of PASOK in charge of matters related to the Ministry of Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works.
From May 2007 until his election as MP, he was responsible for the Sustainable Development Plan of the UNEP Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP).
In 2001, he took on the position of Coordinator for the Mediterranean Wetlands Initiative (MedWet) of the Ramsar Convention.
Between 2004 and 2007, he served as President of the Rhodes International Film and Visual Arts Festival – Ecofilms.
From 1991 to 1997, he served as head of the Environmental Programs section of the Greek branch of WWF and he was a member of the organisation’s three-member board. He was also member of WWF’s Agricultural and European Policy Office, President of the WWF Mediterranean team and also worked as a councillor at the Fund’s European Policy Office in Brussels.
He worked with the Hellenic Center for Marine Research on the implementation of the “Poseidon” Programme.
He is fluent in French and English, and has a working knowledge of Italian.