​Michalis Liapis was born in Athens.He is a graduate of the University of Athens, School of Law and Political Sciences. He has attended postgraduate studies at the Paris Law School. Since he passed the Bar Exams he has been practicing Law.He served his military service in the Navy, where he was Ensign in reserve.During the period following the Dictatorship in Greece he played a leading role in the establishment of the New Democracy Party Youth Organization.In 1977 he was appointed special Advisor on Communication and Public Relations matters at the Prime Minister’ s Office.In 1980 he was appointed Director of the President of the Republic’ s Private Office, a position that he retained until 1985.He was first elected Member of Parliament in the Athens B Constituency with the New Democracy Party in 1985. Since then he has been reelected without interruption.In June 1992 he was appointed Deputy Minister for Commerce.In May 1997 he was appointed Secretary of Political Planning and Programming.In March 2004 he was appointed Minister of Transport and Communications.In September 2007 he was appointed Minister of Culture.For a number of years he was a member of delegations of the Greek Parliament to the Western European Assembly and the Council of Europe.He is the author of three books of political content: “For a radical Renewal”, “For a New Morality” and “For a Creative Overthrow”.He is fluent in French and English.