Reshuffle put on the backburner for now

Decisions will be taken after EC recovery funds allocated to Greece are finalized, PM aides say

Aides to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis refuted claims yesterday of an imminent cabinet reshuffle in the next few weeks, stressing that decisions will be taken after the European Commission’s recovery funds for Greece are finalized.

Until that time, changes to the government are being shelved, the aides insisted, adding that the reshuffle will be pegged to the financial package, which is pivotal for Greece as it leaves the first phase of the pandemic.

Speculation soared that the reshuffle could take place in the next few days on

Tuesday after Mitsotakis hinted to reporters during his visit to Israel that “corrections” would be made to his government.

Meanwhile, the PM’s office hailed as “especially significant” Mitsotakis’ participation in a teleconference on Bloomberg TV yesterday, where he expressed the conviction that Greece, after the successful management of the coronavirus crisis, can achieve an “extremely strong recovery in 2021.”

The conference was prefaced by the American businessman and politician Michael Bloomberg, who stressed that the economic reforms implemented by Mitsotakis before the pandemic, as well as the incentive package he instituted to deal with the crisis, helped Greece overcome the storm.

In addition, Bloomberg noted that the reforms contributed to improving the confidence of investors in Greece, describing the country as an example to be imitated.

For his part, Mitsotakis stressed that after the successful handling of the pandemic, the next big challenge “is to overcome the impending financial storm.”

Mitsotakis noted that the first quarter of 2020 “was difficult but not catastrophic,” as “the Greek economy shrank by 0.9% when the average contraction in the eurozone was 3.6%.”

He said that the reforms his government implemented since taking office have already begun to pay off and, therefore, the first two months of the year were extremely good and helped Greece cope with the pandemic.

Mitsotakis reiterated the call for investments in Greece, stressing that it offers investment opportunities because it provides a political framework that is distinguished by stability, with the government working with a four-year horizon.