He studied law and political science at the University of Athens.

A member of Lambrakis Youth, he was a founding member of the Communist Party of Greece (Interior), serving, from 1975 until the party's demise, on its central committee.

He was a founding member of the Greek Left party, in 1987, and was elected its general secretary on 25 June 1989, remaining in this position until 1992.

From March 2018 he started to support the second Alexis Tsipras government.

This page incorporates information from the Hellenic Parliament website