European Union Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou has been appointed Foreign Minister of Cyprus in the new cabinet of communist AKEL party leader Demetris Christofias who was elected present in last Sunday’s runoff elections with 53,35% of the vote, against Euro MP Ioannis Kassoulides.
The new president takes his oath of office in the House of Representatives on Thursday afternoon and convenes his first Cabinet meeting on Friday.
Kyprianou will take up the most sought-after portfolio as part of the fragile coalition with the Democratic Party (DIKO) his father founded in 1976. DIKO also took two more ministerial posts, Christos Patsalides at Health (moved from Interior), and lawyer Antonis Paschalides at Commerce Industry and Tourism.
The remainder of the term of Kyprianou’s Commission post will served by Androulla Vassiliou, wife of former Cyprus President George Vassiliou, whose small United Democrats had supported Christofias’ candidacy from the outset.
Charilaos Stavrakis, the group chief executive of the island largest financial institution, the Bank of Cyprus, will be the new Finance Minister, reserved for a non-partisan technocrat. He succeeds Michael Sarris who is credited with the few credit-worthy achievemnts of the outgoing administrations, namely partial economic reforms, reduction of the public sector debt and taking
AKEL’s Neoklis Sylikiotis returns to the Ministry of Interior, a post reserved for his party in the previous coalition government, from where he resigned when Christofias announced his own candidacy last summer and cost Tassos Papadopoulos any chance of re-election.
Another AKEL official, former Chief of Police and until recently member of parliament Costas Papacostas will become Defence Minister, while outspoken trade union activist of the communist PEO workers’ labour force, Sotiroulla Charalambous takes over as Labour Minister and the only female Cabinet member.
AKEL’s voice in the Cabinet concludes with Education Minister Andreas Demetriou, Rector of the new Technical University of Cyprus, while Christofias’ press officer Stefanos Stefanou is the new Government Spokesman, a ministerial-level Cabinet post.
Kypros Chrysostomides, a highly respected international law expert and government spokesman in the previous administration’s earlier years, will be the new Minister of Justice and Public Order in charge of the island’s legal system and the police. He was an independent MP elected on the AKEL ticket in May 2006.
Former Foreign Minister and Cyprus High Commissioner in London, George Iacovou, has been appointed Presidential Commissioner, a post abolished by Papadopoulos five years ago.
The smaller socialist EDEK party has been handed the ministries of Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment (Michalis Polynikis), and Communications and Works (Nicos Nicolaides).
