Samaras’ Reworked Cabinet Sworn In

ATHENS – Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ partially new, revamped Cabinet was sworn in on June 10 as he attempts to recoup ground his New Democracy Conservatives lost to the major opposition Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) party which won the most seats from Greece in the European Parliament. The new members, many of them retreads from New Democracy and its partner the PASOK Socialists, were sworn in at the Presidential mansion, in the presence of President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias and Samaras. Conducting the swearing-in ceremony was Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Ieronymos. Several ministers and deputy ministers were replaced in a government reshuffle announced the day before, bringing changes in key ministries and several surprise departures and additions. The top job of Finance Minister went to economics professor and banker Gikas Hardouvelis. He replaces Yannis Stournaras, who had been the country’s point man in negotiations – a task that now falls to Hardouvelis – with its international lenders, the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB.) Stournaras has been talked about as the new Bank of Greece Governor. The last reshuffle of the incumbent New Democracy (ND) – PASOK coalition government took place in June last year – which came a year after Samaras’ first Cabinet when he won the national elections. This now gives him three Cabinets in two years. Last year he brought in the Democratic Left (DIMAR), which later withdrew in protest over the firing of all 2,656 workers at the now-defunct national broadcaster ERT, which has been replaced by a new station called NERIT. PASOK chief Evangelos Venizelos keeps his positions as Deputy Premier/Foreign Minister, given after he continued to back harsh austerity measures that devastated his party’s popularity but gave him plum jobs. Dimitris Avramopoulos (Defence Minister), Miltiadis Varvitsiotis (Shipping & Aegean Minister) and Olga Kefalogianni (Tourism Minister) are among the ministers who retain their portfolios. On the other hand, Adonis Georgiadis (former Health Minister), Constantinos Arvanitopoulos (former Education and Religious Affairs Minister), Yiannis Michelakis (former Interior Minister), Costis Hatzidakis (former Development & Competitiveness Minister), Panos Panayiotopoulos (former Culture and Sports Minister), Athanassios Tsaftaris (former Rural Development and Food Minister) and Simos Kedikoglou (former Government Spokesman and Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister), are some of the prominent members of the government who lost their jobs in a shakeup. The new Cabinet, as announced by the new government spokesman, Sofia Voultepsi, will be the following: Prime Minister: Antonis Samaras Government Vice-President and Foreign Minister: Evangelos Venizelos Deputy: Dimitris Kourkoulas Deputy: Akis Gerontopoulos Finance Minister: Gikas Hardouvelis Alternate: Christos Staikouras Deputy: Giorgos Mavraganis Administrative Reform and E-Governance Minister: Kyriakos Mitsotakis Deputy: Evi Christophilopoulou Interior Minister: Argyris Dinopoulos Alternate: Theofilos Leontaridis Deputy: Giorgos Dolios National Defence Minister: Dimitris Avramopoulos Alternate: Fofi Genimata Deputy: Giannis Lambropoulos Development and Competitiveness Minister: Nikos Dendias Deputy: Odysseas Constantinopoulos Deputy: Gerasimos Giakoumatos Deputy: Notis Mitarachi Infrastructure, Transport and Networks Minister: Michalis Chryssohoidis Deputy: Michalis Papadopoulos Environment, Energy & Climate Change Minister: Yiannis Maniatis Alternate: Nikolaos Tagaras Deputy: Asimakis Papageorgiou Education and Religious Affairs Minister: Andreas Loverdos Deputy: Alexandros Dermetzopoulos Deputy: Constantinos Koukodimos Culture and Sports Minister: Constantinos Tassoulas Deputy: Angela Gerekou Deputy Minister for Sports: Yiannis Andrianos Labour, Social Security and Welfare Minister: Yiannis Vroutsis Deputy: Vassilis Kegeroglou Deputy: Antonios Bezas Deputy: Yiannis Plakiotakis Health Minister: Makis Voridis Alternate: Leonidas Grigorakos Deputy: Katerina Papakosta Rural Development and Food Minister: Giorgos Karasmanis Alternate: Paris Koukoulopoulos Justice, Transparency and Human Rights Minister: Charalambos Athanassiou Public Order and Citizen Protection Minister: Vassilios Kikilias Tourism Minister: Olga Kefalogianni Shippping and Aegean Minister: Miltiadis Varvitsiotis Macedonia-Thrace Minister: Giorgos Orfanos State Minister: Dimitris Stamatis Government Spokesman and Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister: Sofia Voultepsi

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com