Greek Cypriot Media Review
Christofias will be formally sworn in today at a ceremony at the House of Representatives this afternoon, and had wanted to have his government in place before then.
The new ministers formally take up their posts tomorrow.
According to an announcement CyBC received from the President’s staff, they will be as follows.
Foreign Minister – Markos Kyprianou (note: former Finance Minister under Papadopoulos and ex-Diko MP who was Cyprus’ commissioner in Brussels for the past four years. EDI’s Androulla Vassiliou will replace him in Brussels).
Finance– Charilaos Stavrakis (non-party, a senior official at the Bank of Cyprus and chairman of the EAC)
Interior – Neoklis Sylikiotis (leading Akel member who served in the same post under the Papadopoulos government until Akel quit after Christofias announced his candidacy in the presidential elections)
Defence – Costas Papacostas (a former police chief and Akel MP)
Education – Andreas Dimitriou (academic, currently dean of the Cyprus Technical University. Believed to be close to Akel)
Communication and Works – Nikos Nikolaides (an Edek member who is not widely known to the public)
Commerce and Industry – Antonis Paschalides (a Diko member, ditto)
Agriculture and Natural Resources – Michalis Polynikis (an Edek member, ditto)
Labour and Social Insurance – Sotiroulla Charalambous (Akel MP until her appointment)
Justice and Public Order – Kypros Chrysostomides (president of the Rampart for the Reformation of the Centre and elected to parliament on Akel’s list in the 2006 elections)
Health – Christos Patsallides (a Diko member who was Interior Minister in Papadopoulos’ last government).
Government Spokesman – Stephanos Stephanou (Akel member and spokesman for Christofias’ election campaign team).
Vassos Georgiou, who was the director of Christofias’ office when he was President of the House, now becomes director of his office at the presidential palace.
The post of director of the president’s diplomatic office – formerly filled by Tasos Tzionis – is abolished.
Former Foreign Minister Giorgos Iakovou will also be based at the presidential palace in the newly re-established post of presidential commissioner. It remains unclear what specific functions he will have. In the first half of the Papadopoulos presidency, there was a presidential commissioner for humanitarian affairs, Polakis Sarris, who dealt mainly with issues concerning the enclaved, but he was not replaced when he quit the post.
Initial assessment: Diko and Edek had wanted to be given ministries that are important in terms of wielding political influence because of their powers of appointment (or nepotism), such as Defence and Justice and Public Order, and have clearly been rebuffed.
And after publicly rejecting any interference in state education by the Church, Christofias also ignored Diko’s reported desire to be given the Education portfolio, appointing an academic close to Akel instead.
On the other hand, Diko gets its promised three ministries and Edek its two, but neither party has managed to promote senior figures from their parties to the cabinet, while the ministries they received, apart from Foreign Affairs, cannot be regarded as the frontline ones. Both parties appear to have paid the price for refusing to even discuss the possibility of supporting Christofias’ candidacy from the first round, only doing so when “forced to” in the second round.
In addition, the appoinment of Androulla Vassiliou to such a senior post marks a significant return to public life for EDI, who failed to enter parliament in the 2006 elections.
At the presidential palace, Christofias has clearly chosen to be surrounded by his close associates, such as Iacovou, Georgiou, and Stephanou, while Tzionis, as expected, is departing and presumably, will return to the Foreign Ministry.
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