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New Key Ministerial Posts

The new cabinet will be charged with pursuing the government's growth and development policies and the ministries of development, health, and agriculture will key in this direction.

 

The new cabinet will be charged with pursuing the government's growth and development policies, which is a main axis of this reshuffle. Among the new ministers charged with implementing these policies are minister of development Nikos Dendias, agricultural development Giorgos Karasmanis, and health Makis Voridis.

Mr Dendias was appointed Minister of Public Order and Citizen Protection in June 2012. His tenure at the ministry was considered successful. Now Mr Dendias will be called upon to manage the new round of European subsidized programs so that liquidity is restored to markets. Nikos Dendias was born in Kerkyra and comes from Paxi, although a lawyer, and politically active with New Democracy since 1978, the CV he has posted on his personal site shows no gainful employment until March 2004 when he was elected as an MP for Kerkyra. He has been elected as MP in all subsequent electoral bouts. From January 2009 to 4 October 2009, he was Minister of Justice.

The new agricultural development minister is also expected to play a key role, as the transformation of the primary production sector is high on the agenda of the new economic development model, while he will also be called to manage relations with farmers, at an especially politically sensitive time. Mr Karasmanis was born in Pella in 1951. He joined New Democracy at it establishment in 1974 and has been elected deputy for his prefecture since 1996. As his personal CV shows he also has shown no gainful employment, other than party apparatchik.

The other ministerial post that will feature heavily in the government's efforts to bring growth to the Greek economy, will be that of health, and new minister Makis Voridis. Mr Voridis will have to tackle the thorny issue of pharmacy profit margins, which has to be scaled back to 15%, according to the memorandums, securing and getting rebates from pharmas (claw back), the hospital infrastructure of the state health system, and may have to manage some hospital shutdowns. Mr Voridis has a more colorful past than most of his colleagues. He has been a practicing penal lawyer and is considered a successful litigator. He has been stigmatized for his sojourn in extreme right wing parties in his youth. He entered the electoral process and parliament with the right wing party Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS), and was part of the Papadimos caretaker government. He then crossed over to New Democracy of which he is a member now.