Hold On … Samaras Readies Greek Shake

After his office issued a blanket denial that he would not reshuffle his Cabinet, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, the New Democracy Conservative leader, is set to do so and will fire some of his own party members and replace them with those of one of his coalition partners, the PASOK Socialists, the newspaper Kathimerini reported.
That could pave the way for PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos, who has been on the sidelines while giving Samaras his unconditional support, to be named Deputy Prime Minister. Venizelos was a former Finance Minister as well and it’s typical in Greece for politicians to move ahead and be named ministers of various agencies.
After Samaras’ spokesman earlier shot down the reports of  reshuffle, Venizelos withdrew his support for any more austerity measures to match a vow by the Prime Minister that he would not impose any more pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions on beleaguered Greeks. But while Venizelos has occasionally voiced public resistance to government policies in public he has always relented to support them, as has Fotis Kouvelis, leader of the Democratic Left, the other coalition partner.
Last June when Venizelos and Kouvelis threw their party’s votes behind Samaras so that he could control Parliament they barred their members for being in the Cabinet for fear the government might not last and as critics said they wanted to distance themselves as much as possible from the austerity measures they supported.
But now, with the county on a more stable footing, Venizelos is seen as keen to get back into the limelight and take a government position after being on the outside for a long time since serving in the failed former administration his his predecessor, former Premier George Papandreou.
On March 6, government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou said there was no truth to reports that Samaras was planning to change the ministers in his government. “There is no issue at all of a reshuffle, period,” he said, but Kathimerini insisted it’s coming and will be announced at the end of this month or in April. Samaras is reportedly unhappy with the performance of some of his ministers in taking so long to implement reforms he promised international lenders in return for bailout loans.
Certain positions, though, are highly unlikely to be changed. These include Yannis Stournaras as Finance Minister; Dimitris Avramopoulos as Foreign Minister, another position Venizelos reportedly coveted; Panos Panagiotopoulos as Defense Minister, Costis Hatzidakis as Development Minister, Nikos Dendias as Public Order Minister and Dimitris Stamatis as State Minister.
Democratic Left is likely to ask for the two officials it put forward last year, Administrative Reform Minister Antonis Manitakis and Justice Minister Antonis Roupakiotis, to remain in their positions.
Speaking to New Democracy’s political committee, Samaras defended his record as party leader and prime minister. “The country is out of intensive care but not yet out of the hospital,” he told party members, while reminding them that when he took over the party after the 2009 elections, New Democracy was in disarray.
“As everything around us collapsed, we remained standing and now represent the platform for all those who want our country to have a European outlook,” he said.