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Papandreou rearranged the same pawns in the cabinet

17 June 2011 / 11:06:54  GRReporter
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The new - old composition of the Greek government was announced at "PASOK hour" as the proverb delay in the actions of the ruling party is known for years. "Manolios changed his clothes and put them again but from the other side" were the first comments after the announcement of the names of the new ministers.

The Ministry of Finance, which was the main reason for this change, will be headed by the former Minister of Defence and professor of constitutional law Evangelos Venizelos. In parallel, he will be one of two vice-chairman of the Greek government. The current "king" of the Greek economy Georgios Papakonstantinou was supposed to take the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but eventually, he will take the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change.

The two new names in the team are of the Minister of State and Government Spokesman Elias Mossialos and of Miltiadis Papaioannou, who will take the post of Minister of Justice.

The former leader of PASOK deputies in the European Parliament Stavros Lambrinidis assumes the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Panos Beglitis was promoted from Deputy Minister of Defence.

The reform established the Ministry of Administrative Reform and E-government headed by the former Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Dimitris Repas. Тhe new "super" Ministry of Development headed by Minister Michalis Chrysohoidis takes over shipping too. Thus, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs was closed.

Some key ministries are also rearranged – the Ministry of the Interior which is taken by Harris Kastanidis and the former minister Yiannis Ragousis headed the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks. The Deputy Minister of Employment George Koutroumanis was promoted to Minster after Lоuca Katseli was removed from the government team.

The ministers of health Andreas Loverdos, education Anna Diamandopoulou, agricultural development Costas Skandalidis, culture Pavlos Geroulanos and the vice-premier of the government Theodoros Pangalos retained their positions.

Harris Pamboukis, who was Minister of State until yesterday in charge of foreign investment, was reduced to Deputy Minister of Development. However, the Deputy Minister of Finance, responsible for state revenues Filippos Sahinidis takes the same position.

The new government committee which will meet often and will take the main decisions on the functions of the cabinet will include the ministers of interior, finance, development, administrative reform and e-governance, environment, energy and climate change, education, infrastructure, health, agricultural development and citizens protection.

Some sources argue that the supposed minister of finance, the former Vice-President of the ECB Lucas Papadimos refused George Papandreou to take the institution. Similar is the information about the economics professor Yannis Stournaras, a member of the team that made Greece part of the euro zone in 2000.

Some analysts say the government reshuffle was made only to replace the former Minister of Finance Georgios Papaconstantinou. Others note that the Prime Minister Papandreou wanted to strengthen the balance in his party, especially after the yesterday's attempt to be removed from leadership. The widespread view is that the new cabinet is of "political" composition, which has enhanced the presence of party cadres at the expense of the complete strangers like Dimitris Droutsas and Tina Birbili the Prime Minister imported two years ago.

The main opposition party New Democracy commented on the government reshuffle that the rearrangement of the same persons at different positions proves its wrong policies. "The replacement of the Minister of Finance means recognition of the failure of the economic policy," stated the official statement of the party.

The assessments of the other opposition parties are also critical. Commentators believe that the new government is unable to fulfill the economic program and the necessary reforms and argue that early elections are not far away.

 

Tags: PoliticsCabinet reshuffleNew namesMinisters
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