No reshuffle, for now
After discussions with close aides and high-ranking members of New Democracy, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has ruled out the possibility of a reshuffle, at least until the government’s budget has been voted through Parliament in December, sources said yesterday. Karamanlis took the decision as yet another conservative MP attacked his leadership and the government’s record, while more revelations about the controversial Vatopedi land deal threatened to deal another blow to ND. The prime minister met with several members of the Cabinet yesterday and was convinced to stick with his original assessment that conducting a reshuffle in the immediate aftermath of Giorgos Voulgarakis’s resignation would only offer the government short-term respite and Karamanlis would be seen to be panicking in the wake of poor opinion poll results. «The prime minister assesses the situation and acts accordingly,» said Public Works and Environment Minister Giorgos Souflias as he left Maximos Mansion. «My opinion is that there will not be any reshuffle,» he added in the broadest public hint that Karamanlis has decided not to make any changes to his Cabinet. His leadership skills came under attack from former Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras yesterday. In a discussion with parliamentary reporters, Polydoras accused Karamanlis of acting like a Roman emperor and ND of failing to root out «sleaze merchants» so it could use their «know-how.» He also accused the premier of promoting the party’s «golden boys» ahead of more experienced members like Polydoras. There was no official reaction to the deputy’s comments but Polydoras’s future in the party is being debated. Meanwhile, former Agricultural Development Minister Savvas Tsitouridis yesterday denied any part in setting up the deal that saw undervalued public land being exchanged for property owned by the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos. Tsitouridis was reacting to the Ta Nea newspaper’s publication of handwritten notes about the land deal allegedly exchanged between him and chief monk Ephraim.
