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Ioannis Charalambopoulos (Greek: Ιωάννης Χαραλαμπόπουλος) is a Greek Army officer (Colonel of the Engineering Corps) and socialist politician who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of National Defence of Greece.

Early life and political career

Charalambopoulos was born in 1919 in Psari, Greece. He studied at the Hellenic Army Academy and completed his military studies at Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, southeast London. During World War II, he served as the commander of an infantry unit during the Greco-Italian War and later in the Middle Eastern theater. He left the army in 1961 with the rank of colonel and became a politician in the Center Union, being elected to Parliament representing Messenia in the 1963 and 1964 elections.[1]

During the Greek military junta of 1967–1974, Charalambopoulos founded the Democratic National Resistance Movement, and spent three years in internal exile for his opposition to the regime. After the fall of the dictatorship in 1974, Charalambopoulos became a founding member of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, and was elected to Parliament on its lists in all elections from 1974 to 2000, representing the Athens B constituency.[1]

After the accession of Greece to the EEC on January 1, 1981, he became a provisional member of the European Parliament representing Greece until the country could hold its first European Parliament elections. On October 21, 1981 he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in the first cabinet of Andreas Papandreou and served in the position until July 26, 1985.[2][3] He was then appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Greece during Papandreou's second term until 18 November 1988, in addition receiving the portfolio of National Defence on 25 April 1986 which he held until 2 July 1989.[3][1]