Oikonomou sworn in as Citizen Protection minister, replacing Mitarakis

Giannis Oikonomou was sworn in as new Citizen Protection minister on Friday, a few hours after Notis Mitarakis resigned from the top post, following a series of blunders.

Mitarakis, who used to be in charge of the country’s security forces, including the coast guard, cited “personal reasons” for his resignation and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis promptly accepted it.

What actually forced Mitarakis’ resignation was that he was on holidays while Greece was in the grip of major wildfires. Greek media, including Kathimerini and private TV channel Mega, had reported Mitarakis’ presence on a yacht off the island of Patmos on Thursday. He returned to Athens later that day.

While there had been other negative publicity surrounding Mitarakis – two of his announcements concerning the police were walked back by Mitsotakis himself – the latest episode sealed his fate.

Giannis Vroutsis was sworn in as alternate Education, Religions, and Sports minister at the same ceremony.

President Katerina Sakellaropoulou and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis were present at the event at the Presidential Mansion.