Greek Prime Minister appoints former far-right figure inside
The head of the Greek government Kyriakos Mitsotakis, here during a session in Parliament in November 2020. REUTERS - COSTAS BALTAS
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In Greece, the conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has just reshuffled his government.
If the majority of key portfolios have not changed owners, that of the Interior goes to Makis Voridis, originally from the extreme right.
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Makis Voridis, who has just been appointed Minister of the Interior, is not in his first ministerial post in Greece.
In the early 2010s, the 56-year-old lawyer was first Minister of Transport in the Papademos government, and then, in 2014, he served a few months as Minister of Health in the Samaras government.
In the recently reshaped Greek government, he was until now the head of the Ministry of Rural Development, says our correspondent in Athens,
Joël Bronner
.
In the 1990s, Makis Voridis notably became known for having founded the far-right Hellenic Front party before joining Laos ten years later, another Greek formation classified to the right of the right.
He will be expelled in 2012, in the midst of the public debt crisis, after a vote in favor of a second memorandum, that is to say a series of international loans granted in exchange for an austerity policy of the part of Athens.
It was then that Makis Voridis joined the conservative New Democracy party, the ruling party.
This party now allows him to access the Ministry of the Interior of a country which is one of the main entry points for asylum seekers in Europe.
In addition to this change, Sofia Voultepsi, former journalist and member of New Democracy since 2004, renowned for her populist positions and her outspokenness on television sets, is appointed Deputy Minister for the Integration of Refugees.
In 2014, during a televised debate on the Mega channel, she described the migrants as “
unarmed invaders
”.
In the new cabinet, Nicholas Yatromanolakis, 44, is the first openly gay man to be appointed minister in Greece.
He becomes Deputy Minister for Contemporary Culture.
Towards early legislative elections?
The Greek Prime Minister confirmed in their positions the ministers who are at the forefront of the health crisis and its economic consequences.
For Nassos Iliopoulos, spokesperson for the main opposition party, Syriza (radical left), interviewed on public television ERT, "no change in the government will protect Mr. Mitsotakis".
"
The government has a clear responsibility for the tragedy we are undergoing during this second wave, where during a two-month confinement
4,331 compatriots died,
" he added.
This is the second reshuffle of the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, elected in July 2019. According to several analysts, this reshuffle could pave the way for early parliamentary elections.
In the most recent poll, conducted by the MRB institute, the Prime Minister's conservative party remains in the lead in voting intentions with 38.1%, well ahead of Syriza, which would only win 23.1%.
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Greece
Kyriakos Mitsotakis