A sweeping reshuffle of the Greek government was announced after midnight on Monday , less than a year after the elections which brought the ruling socialist PASOK party in power last October.
Greek government spokesman George Petalotis who retains his post, announced that Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou remains at the helm of the ministry which is regarded as crucial, while the country struggles to exit a severe economic crisis since late 2009.
According to local analysts and media reports, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou seeks to strengthen with the reshuffle the effectiveness of the team of his close associates which lead the efforts to bring Greece out of the crisis. The new team is bigger than the previous one.
Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos also retains his post, while outgoing Interior Minister Yannis Ragoussis is named as Presidency Minister responsible for the better coordination of the government.
Harris Pampoukis gets the portfolio of Foreign Investments, which is a priority for Greece, as it tries to slash a huge budget deficit that now stands at 13.6 percent of GDP and return to the path of development over a three-year period with the assistance of EU and the International Monetary Fund.
Regarding the changes in other key posts, Papandreou left the portfolio of Foreign Minister to outgoing Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas and replaced Economy, Shipping and Competitiveness Minister Louka Katseli with the current Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrysohoidis.
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