Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras proceeded with a widely expected government reshuffle on Wednesday evening, a day after two ministers, Dimitris Papadimitriou and his wife, Rania Antonopoulou, resigned in the wake of a furor concerning the allocation of a monthly 1,000-euros stipend to unelected Cabinet ministers.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras proceeded with a widely expected government reshuffle on Wednesday evening, a day after two ministers, Dimitris Papadimitriou and his wife, Rania Antonopoulou, resigned in the wake of a furor concerning the allocation of a monthly 1,000-euros stipend to unelected Cabinet ministers.
The widely respected Yannis Dragasakis will succeed Papadimitriou at the economy and development ministry, while leaving the portfio of deputy prime minister.
Up-until-now Alternate Defense Minister Dimitris Vitsas will succeed Yannis Mouzalas at migration policy minister, a portfolio that was created amid the refugee/illegal migration crisis that erupted in 2015. Mouzalas, who achieved a high profile at the ministry, was also an unelected member of the Cabinet, and reportedly leaves the sensitive position due to health reasons.
One surprise in the more-or-less mini reshuffle is the return of veteran leftist politician Fotis Kouvelis to a government post, as the latter appeared to have fizzled out of the main political scene when his small Democratic Left party failed to enter Parliament in the last two elections.
The new deputy labor minister was announced as Athanasios Iliopoulos, while Konstantinos Stratis was tapped as a new deputy culture and sports minister.