New faces as government reshuffle announced (update 2)

President Nicos Anastasiades replaced the ministers of health and justice on Tuesday and appointed a junior minister for welfare at the newly created department.

Anastasiades also appointed a new government spokesperson and deputy.

Chartered accountant Michalis Hadjipantelas has been appointed health minister while lawyer Stephie Drakou, the former insurance superintendent, will take the justice portfolio.

The current health minister’s assistant Anastasia Anthousi was appointed deputy welfare minister.

Anastasiades said his latest ministerial line-up aims towards a more widely accepted government.

The goal is to serve in the best possible way both his agenda, and the recently announced Recovery and Resilience plan, he said.

Disy member Marios Pelekanos will replace Kyriacos Koushios as government spokesman while chamber of commerce and industry PR and communications executive Niovi Parisinou was appointed deputy government spokesperson.

Andreas Iosif takes over as director of the press office of the president. The post was held by Victoras Papadopoulos who will deal with Cyprus problem information issues at the foreign ministry

Deputy government spokesman Panayiotis Sentonas is the new commissioner for volunteerism. The position has been renamed commissioner for the citizen.

Asked about his own future, Koushos said that he was leaving the political realm. “I must say though that the President offered me a post so I could remain a part of the government, but I chose to depart”.

The new ministers will be sworn in and take over their duties on July 1.

Hadjipandelas and Drakou replace Constantinos Ioannou and Emily Yiolitis who have both resigned for different reasons.

Hadjipandelas was not the president’s first choice. Anastasiades had offered the position to former House president and Akel MP Adamos Adamou who declined at the last moment reportedly after pressure from the party.

In a written statement on Tuesday, Adamou, a doctor, thanked the president for the offer, which he had carefully thought about in the past few days.

“It is true that the challenge of taking the reins of such a key ministry, which focuses on people, was very big… always keeping in mind that I would be able to contribute from a sector that I know well,” Adamou said.

However, after a lot of thought, and considering potential wrong impressions regarding my political consistency and “wanting to remain loyal to the principles that characterise me from the first moment of my involvement in politics, I decided not to accept Mr Anastasiades’ proposal.”

Anastasiades said he was “genuinely saddened [by Adamou declining the post], because instead of looking to benefit the country, some have made sure through their interventions to keep a very capable citizen from serving their country”.

Ioannou had expressed his intention to step down after around three years in office.

Yiolitis resigned on the back of continuing reports relating to a reshuffle that presented her as the “weakest link” in the administration, which rendered her presence at the ministry “unproductive and problematic.”

Yiolitis said she spoke to President Nicos Anastasiades on the phone over her concerns and to her surprise, was told that her presence in the cabinet hurt the government’s image and him personally.

In her letter, Yiolitis denied being at fault, suggesting she was the one who was hurt at the end of the day because of her participation in the government.

“I entered politics without hindrances, with clean hands and stated financial ability, so that there would not be any shadows of cronyism or corruption. In fact, I was probably the one who suffered, heavily no less, by accepting to participate in a government that you know well was not held in high esteem by society as regards corruption and transparency.”