Greek PM reshuffles cabinet after debt deal reached

Athens:  Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reshuffled his cabinet on Friday following the achievement of a debt deal with international creditors earlier this week to keep Greece afloat and in the eurozone.

The mini cabinet reshuffle came a day after a vote in the Greek parliament on the first set of prior actions the country needs to take to unlock vital financing, Xinhua news agency reported.

As expected, the Leftist leader replaced ministers of his radical left SYRIZA party who voted against the agreement and kept key ministries unchanged.

Former labour minister Panos Skourletis was appointed new productive reconstruction, environment and energy minister, replacing Panagiotis Lafazanis.

Former social insurance minister Dimitris Stratoulis who also voted against party line in the crucial early Thursday vote was replaced by Pavlos Haikalis.

The new Alternate Minister for Revenues Tryfon Alexiadis takes over from Nadia Valavani who resigned on Wednesday a few hours before she votes against the deal.

Dimitris Vitsas was appointed new alternate defence minister, replacing Costas Isichos, another SYRIZA lawmaker who voted against the agreement.

Yannis Amanatidis was appointed new deputy foreign minister for European affairs, replacing Nikos Chountis who gave up his seat in parliament to move to Brussels to replace Manolis Glezos who has resigned as member of the European parliament.

 

 

–IANS