Kostas Mavridis comes from the occupied Kyrenia District of Cyprus. He studied in the USA with a Fulbright scholarship. Since 2014 he has been a Member of the European Parliament with the Democratic Party and belongs to the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) Political Group in the European Parliament. He served as Chairman of the Political Committee for the Mediterranean with responsibilities for political affairs, security and human rights and is the first to hold this position from Cyprus and Greece. He also participates in the Committees: Foreign Affairs, Economy, Defence and Security, International Trade, Petitions as well as the European Union Delegation – Israel. He was the negotiator on behalf of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) Political Group for the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the EU's largest financial instrument to date, as well as for the European Parliament's report on the Common Security and Defence Policy. In addition, he was the European Parliament's rapporteur for the report on the European Central Bank. He also participated in the European Parliament's Delegation to the Conference on the Future of Europe and was a member of the working group on Europe's geopolitical role in the world. In 2004, he pioneered the promotion of provisions of the Annan Plan, which provided for the possibility of intervention by England and Turkey in the maritime area south of Cyprus, aiming at the energy wealth of the Republic of Cyprus. In 2008, he was elected and has been a Member of the Executive Bureau of the Democratic Party since then.