Greece’s SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government announced a cabinet reshuffle on Friday, changing faces at eight key posts. The mini-reshuffle came after thirty-eight SYRIZA lawmakers did not support Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ proposed bailout deal in the Greek Parliament vote on Wednesday. Tsipras accused his MPs, among them three ministers who voted against the bailout deal, of displaying a lack of camaraderie and solidarity. Production Reconstruction, Environment and Energy Ministry Panagiotis Lafaznis, Deputy Health Minister Dimitris Stratoulis and Deputy Minister of National Defense Kostas Isichos were all sacked from their ministerial posts for their dissent. Until now government spokesperson Gabriel Sakellaridis, became the new SYRIZA parliamentary spokesperson, while the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Choundis will now resume his seat at the European Parliament. The inauguration of the new cabinet, initially set to take place later on Friday evening, was postponed until Saturday morning due to the extensive fires that broke out all over Greece. These are the eight new members of the SYRIZA-ANEL cabinet: Christoforos Vernardakis The new Deputy Minister of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction was a SYRIZA MP candidate in January 2015. He is a political science professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and is also the founder of the public opinion poll company, VPRC. Trifon Alexiadis Alexiadis replaces the recently departed Nadia Valavani as the Deputy Minister of Finance. He is the vice-president of the tax office employees federation. Alexiadis has also been in charge of designing SYRIZA’s tax policy. Pavlos Polakis The new Deputy Minister of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction is a surgeon that hails from the island Crete. Polakis has been a SYRIZA MP since January 2015 and was previously the mayor of the Cretan village Sfakia. Sia Anagnostopoulou She is the new Deputy Foreign Minister. She has been a SYRIZA MP since January 2015. Anagnostopoulou is also a member of SYRIZA’s Central Committee and sits on the board of directors of the SYRIZA newspaper AVGI. Giannis Amanatidis Amanatidis will also hold the Deputy Foreign Minister’s post. He is a school teacher and has been a SYRIZA MP since 2012. Amanatidis has also participated in various trade unions along the years. Pavlos Haikalis He is the new Deputy Minister of Social Security. Haikalis is a well known professional actor and has been an MP with the Independent Greeks party since June 2012. Dimitris Vitsas The New Deputy Minister of Defence is a long time SYRIZA party member. He was a member of the Greek Communist Party (KKE) until the early 1990’s and he is known for having a close relationship with Alexis Tsipras. Olga Gerovasili The new Government Spokesperson is a doctor and has been a SYRIZA MP since May 2012. Georvasili was the SYRIZA Parliamentary Spokesperson before becoming Government Spokesperson, essentialy switching posts with Gabriel Sakelaridis.
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