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Greece wakes up to a new government

07 September 2010 / 09:09:13  GRReporter
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Few removed ministers, many new faces especially at the level of deputy ministers, recovery of the Ministry of Mercantile Marine and greater responsibilities for the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Development are the main characteristics of the government changes announced at 1.30 after midnight. This is the end of the thriller about the repair of the cabinet of George Papandreou that was of great public interest in Greece in recent days.

The former Minister of Rural Development and Food Katerina Batzeli is the only minister completely excluded from the former government. Kostas Skandalidis, who is classic representative of PASOK and was part of many governments, took her place. As GRReporter already wrote, the former Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrisochoidis takes the Ministry of Development and Competitiveness. The former Minister of Employment and Social Protection Andreas Loverdos takes the Ministry of Health – field in which the Troika of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund urges cardinal changes. His predecessor Mariliza Xenoyanakopulu was moved to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and will be responsible for the European issues. Former First Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas already holds in the diplomatic department.

The previous minister of Economy, Competitiveness and Shipping Louka Katseli takes the Ministry of Employment and Social Protection. Mercantile marine with the island's fishing policy form a separate department, which is covered by Yiannis Diamantidis. The Ministry of Citizen Protection will be managed by another old representative of PASOK - Christos Papoutsis.

The Minister of Finance George Papakonstantinou kept his post, which was expected. The posts of the Minister of Education Anna Diamantopoulu, the Minister of Tourism and Culture Pavlos Gerulanos, for whom there were serious doubts that he will remain in the repaired cabinet, the Minister of Defence Evangelos Venizelos, the Minister of Interior Yannis Rankouzis who assumes the task of coordinating the efforts of his colleagues, the Minister of Justice Haris Kastanidis, the Minister of Environment Tina Birbili, whose remaining in the cabinet was also problematic because of conflict with Papandreou, the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Dimitris Repas remain unchanged.

The Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos and the government spokesman George Petalotis retained their responsibilities.

The new government of George Papandreou has 48 members in total. It had 37 members so far. 16 of them are ministers, the ministers were 15 till now. There are 7 deputy ministers, they were only two recently. Now there are 24 deputy ministers, they were 19.

In other words, call for cuts in public sector at least at ministerial council level has been understood just the opposite.

 

Tags: Cainet reshuffleNew governmentPolitics
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