Head of government Alexis Tsipras Head of state Prokopis Pavlopoulos | Deputy head of government Yannis Dragasakis No. of ministers 13 | |
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Date formed 26 January 2015 (2015-01-26) Date dissolved 27 August 2015 (2015-08-27) | ||
Following his victory in legislative elections held on 25 January 2015, the newly elected Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras appointed a new cabinet to succeed the cabinet of Antonis Samaras, his predecessor. A significant reshuffle took place on 17 July 2015.
Contents
- Composition of the cabinet
- Oath of office
- Government Ministries
- Ministers of State
- Resignations
- 17 July 2015 cabinet reshuffle
- References
Tsipras resigned as Prime Minister on 20 August 2015, and after opposition parties failed to form their own government, on 27 August Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou was appointed as an interim Prime Minister, and her caretaker cabinet was sworn in on 28 August. Following the subsequent September legislative election, Tsipras was re-appointed as Prime Minister on 21 September and appointed a second cabinet that was sworn in on 23 September.
Composition of the cabinet
The cabinet is composed of 35 members, alongside 6 deputy ministers. Including the deputy ministers the cabinet comprises 6 females and 35 males. It reflects the majority coalition in Parliament. It is composed of the winning Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) with the support of the right-wing anti-austerity party, Independent Greeks (ANEL). The Ecologist Greens (OP), which had withdrawn from the election in support of SYRIZA, were given the office of Alternate Minister of Environment and Energy. Finally, some ministers do not belong to any party.
Oath of office
Most members of the cabinet were sworn in on 27 January 2015, with the exception of the new Minister of Justice Nikos Paraskevopoulos , who was sworn in a day later, and the Alternate Ministers Christodoulopoulou, Spirtzis and Fotakis who were sworn in almost two months later.
While most representatives of Syriza chose a civil oath of office, the ANEL representatives as well as Yiannis Panousis, Dimitris Mardas and Panagiotis Nikoloudis chose a religious oath before a representative of the Greek orthodox Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens.
Government Ministries
The number of ministries has been reduced to ten, including four merged ministries:
Alternate Ministers are directly assigned special responsibilities and powers by the prime minister, including:
Full ministers however retain:
Deputy ministers are assigned with responsibilities and powers by the prime minister and the full minister they report to.
Ministers of State
Bold denotes full ministers attending the weekly cabinet council.
a Deputy ministers are not members of the cabinet but may attend cabinet meetings.
References:
Resignations
Yanis Varoufakis, the Minister of Finance, resigned on 6 July 2015, following the 'No' vote in the Greek bailout referendum. In a blog post on his website, Varoufakis wrote: "Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for my... ‘absence’ from its meetings; an idea that the prime minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement. For this reason I am leaving the Ministry of Finance today." Varoufakis was succeeded as Minister of Finance by Euclid Tsakalotos. Tsakalotos in turn left his role as Alternate Minister of International Economic Affairs, leaving the position vacant.
Nikolaos Chountis, the Alternate Minister of European Affairs, resigned on 13 July 2015, three days before the debate on the first round of measures in the tenth austerity package began in the Hellenic Parliament. He also resigned from his parliamentary seat. Chountis subsequently took up the post of Member of the European Parliament for Greece, following Manolis Glezos's resignation. Chountis was replaced as Alternate Minister of European Affairs by Sia Anagnostopoulou, as part of the 17 July cabinet reshuffle.
Nadia Valavani, the Alternate Minister of Finance, resigned on 15 July 2015, the day before the vote on the first round of measures in the tenth austerity package were debated in the Hellenic Parliament. In a letter to Alexis Tsipras, Valavani described the package as a "capitulation". Valavani was succeeded in her role by Tryfon Alexiadis on 17 July, as part of the cabinet reshuffle.
17 July 2015 cabinet reshuffle
Following a number of cabinet members voting against the government on the first set of measures in the tenth austerity package on 16 July 2015, Alexis Tsipras reshuffled his cabinet. The reshuffle took place on 17 July, and the new ministers were swon in on 18 July. The most notable move was to remove Panagiotis Lafazanis from his ministerial role.
Cabinet members that were removed from cabinet:
Existing cabinet members that took on new roles:
New cabinet members:
References:
Along with ministerial changes, a special committee to combat corruption was also proposed by the Prime Minister, to be headed by the Minister of State for Combatting Corruption Panagiotis Nikoloudis. The committee would consist of Tryfon Alexiadis, Pavlos Polakis, Dimitris Papagelopoulos and Terence Quick.
Newly appointed Minister of Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy Panos Skourletis described the reshuffle as an "adjustment by the government to a new reality".