Cyprus’ president picks new defense minister, shakes up Cabinet

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Cyprus ’ president on Monday moved ahead with a considerable shake-up of his Cabinet, replacing his ministers of defense, health, justice and environment as well as the deputy ministers responsible for digital policy and European affairs in one fell swoop after just 10 months in power.

Monday’s move comes after weeklong speculation about which of the 16 Cabinet posts would see new faces following a newspaper interview in which President Nikos Christodoulides indicated the changes were coming soon. The appointments take effect Wednesday.

Vassilis Palmas, the new defense minister, is a veteran politician who has acted as government spokesman and a deputy minister in two previous administrations.

The new health minister, Michalis Damianos, is a lawyer with his own practice, while history professor Maria Panayiotou gets a promotion from environment commissioner to environment and agriculture minister.

Marios Hartsiotis, a lawyer with a theology degree, takes up the justice ministry. Another notable appointment is that of Marilena Raouna, a close associate of Christodoulides, who moves over from chief of the president’s diplomatic office to the post of deputy minister for European affairs.

In the interview with daily Fileleftheros on Dec. 31, Christodoulides said he “would certainly” reshuffle his Cabinet before the first 18 months of his five-year tenure, saying that some ministers “met expectations and some less.”

That appeared to have rattled his Cabinet, prompting Christodoulides to tell his ministers publicly during a meeting last week to discount media speculation and assuring them they would hear any changes personally from him.

But the speculation and its associated pressures prompted the previous deputy minister of innovation, research and digital policy, Philippos Hadjizacharias, to resign three days prior to Monday’s actual Cabinet reshuffle.

塞浦路斯尼科西亚——塞浦路斯总统周一对其内阁进行了一次重大改组，上任仅 10 个月后，便一举更换了国防部长、卫生部长、司法部长、环境部长以及负责数字政策和欧洲事务的副部长。

周一的任命是在此前一周关于16个内阁职位将迎来哪些新面孔的猜测之后做出的。此前，总统尼科斯·赫里斯托祖利季斯在接受报纸采访时暗示，内阁人事变动即将到来。这些任命将于周三生效。

新任国防部长瓦西里斯·帕尔马斯是一位资深政治家，曾在前两届政府中担任政府发言人和副部长。

新任卫生部长米哈利斯·达米亚诺斯是一位拥有自己律师事务所的律师，而历史学教授玛丽亚·帕纳约图则从环境专员晋升为环境和农业部长。

拥有神学学位的律师马里奥斯·哈特西奥蒂斯出任司法部长。另一项引人注目的任命是克里斯托杜利德斯的亲密助手玛丽莱娜·拉乌纳，她从总统外交办公室主任调任欧洲事务副部长。

12月31日，克里斯托杜利德斯在接受《Fileleftheros》日报采访时表示，他“肯定”会在五年任期的前18个月内改组内阁，并称一些部长“达到了预期，而另一些则低于预期”。

这似乎动摇了他的内阁，促使克里斯托杜利德斯在上周的一次会议上公开告诉部长们不要轻信媒体的猜测，并向他们保证，任何变动都会由他亲自宣布。

但种种猜测及其带来的压力促使前创新、研究和数字政策副部长菲利普斯·哈吉扎卡里亚斯在周一内阁正式改组前三天辞职。