Stavros Lambrinidis was born in Athens, Greece, in 1962. He studied Economics and Political Science at Amherst College, USA (B.A. degree, 1984) and Law at the Yale Law School (J.D. degree, 1988).

In June 2004 Mr. Lambrinidis was elected Member of the European Parliament (MEP) with the Greek Social Democratic Party (PASOK) and since April 2005 he   headed the PASOK Delegation to the European Parliament.

In July 2009 he was elected Vice-President of the European Parliament, in charge of the Bureau's International Relations and the Parliament's Communications Policy in the EU 27 member-states and abroad. He is also responsible for the Bureau's Transatlantic Relations and for relations with International Organizations such as the United Nations. In April 2011 he became Co-Chair of the European Parliament special Working Group for the reform of the Codes of Conduct for MEPs and lobbyists.

Between 2004 and 2009 Mr. Lambrinidis served as Vice-President of the European Parliament's Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE), of which he is still an active member. He has been Rapporteur on issues such as the Promotion of Security and Fundamental Rights in the Internet Age, the Integration of Immigrants in Europe, the Protection of Critical Infrastructures in the war against terrorism, as well as the Socialists & Democrats Group’s Shadow Rapporteur for the Processing of Personal Data and the Protection of Privacy in the electronic communications sector.

Between 1994 and 1996 Mr. Lambrinidis was Special Advisor to Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and subsequently Minister for National Education George Papandreou, the current Prime Minister of Greece; Chief of Staff to Minister for Foreign Affairs Theodore Pangalos (1996); Secretary General of the Greek Foreign Ministry responsible for expatriate Greeks (1996-1999); Ambassador ad personam of the Hellenic Republic (1999-2004); and Director-General of the International Olympic Truce Centre (IOTC) (2000-2004).

From 1988 to 1993 Mr. Lambrinidis worked as an Attorney at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, D.C., specializing in International Trade, Transactions and Arbitration.

On the 17.06.2011 he assumed the office of Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Lambrinidis has received several political and academic distinctions. He is the author of numerous articles in Greek and foreign publications and has headed European Parliament, diplomatic, and academic delegations on official visits to over 40 countries and international organizations.

He is married and has a daughter. He speaks Greek, English, and French.