Greece: Cabinet Reshuffled

Posted on January 12, 2009 by grpresspoland

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA) Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis proceeded with a cabinet reshuffle yesterday January 8, and Economy and Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis was the biggest name to be removed from office. Some new faces have been brought into government, some have left, others have moved to a different ministry, though the core of the Cabinet has remained unchanged. Replacing Alogoskoufis, new Finance Minister is Yiannis Papathanssiou, who has been promoted from Deputy Economy and Finance minister. Five were asked to shift to different departments: Transport and Communications Minister Costis Hatzidakis – the architect of current efforts to privatise national carrier Olympic Airways (OA) and reform Hellenic Railways (OSE) – will move to the development ministry, holding the commerce, internal market and significant energy portfolios. Sotiris Hatzigakis went from Justice to Agricultural Development; Aris Spiliotopoulos went from Tourism to Education; and Evripidis Stylianidis from Education to Transport. MP Antonis Samaras has been appointed Culture minister, Stavros Kalafatis was promoted from Deputy Development minister to Macedonia-Thrace minister. and MP Miltiades Varvitsiotis has been made Deputy Foreign minister. Other outgoing Cabinet members are Christos Folias (Development minister), Michalis Liapis (Culture minister), Margaritis Tzimas (Macedonia-Thrace minister), Alexandros Kontos (Agricultural Development minister) and Petros Doukas (Deputy Foreign minister). The new Cabinet was sworn in today and held its first meeting at noon. Athens News Agency: New Cabinet to be sworn in