By Penelope Galliou

It may be clear that the reshuffle is never announced, as it is the prime minister’s exclusive prerogative both in terms of time and composition, but this time, the result of the European elections, turned the political time clock of the current composition of the government upside down and the countdown to her change has begun. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who keeps his papers closed, alongside the decoding of the election result, in the scale of his decisions, counts faces, “efficiency and attitudes” as he stated in his first post-election interview.

As everything shows, even though the prime minister does not like sweeping changes, at the given moment and under the given message sent by the Euro referendum, the interventions of the prime minister in the government scheme are expected to be structural and radical, in order to send a restart signal, to declare the understanding of the message of the ballot box and these, to be combined in parallel with the promotion and acceleration of the next wave of reforms.

The time horizon of the interventions that the prime minister will want to promote remains undefined, but not far according to government sources, with the middle of next week being the most likely time. After all, there is an assessment that the longer this discussion is prolonged, the more there is a risk that some ministers will put down their pencils while waiting for the final decisions.

The prevailing scenario brings the prime ministerial changes to the government structure from Tuesday onwardsas Kyriakos Mitsotakis will be absent from Greece from Saturday to Monday, and in particular on Sunday he will be in Switzerland and on Monday in Brussels.

According to those in the know, among the elements that the prime minister is processing and putting into the equation of changes is the use of more people from the ND Parliamentary Group, while it remains to be answered if the changes will also affect the staff inside the Maximos Palace.

The immovable

The nomenclature for now includes the persons who seem to remain immobile in their government posts, which according to information include the Minister of Defense, Nikos Dendiasthe prime minister’s close associates and Ministers of State Akis Schertsos and Makis Voridisthe Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister and government representative Pavlos Marinakisthe Minister of Finance, Kostis Hatzidakisthe Minister of Foreign Affairs, George Gerapetritis and the Minister of Health Adonis Georgiades.

Stay in the government but possibly with status “rotation” appears to be under consideration for the Minister of Transport Christos Staikourasthe Deputy Minister of Finance Nikos Papathanasisthe Minister of the Interior, Niki Kerameosthe Minister of Environment and Energy, Theodoros Skylakakisthe Minister of Labor, Domna Michailidou.

Who are coming back?

At the same time, there seem to be considerations for ND officials who in the past served in government positions, but are not in the present composition. These include – according to possible scenarios – the former Minister of Citizen Protection Takis TheodorikakosHealth Thanos Pleuris and Immigration and Asylum Notis Mitarakis.

New faces

According to the same information, it is expected to be used as well new faces who may not have government experience in the current or previous Mitsotakis government but have a strong and active parliamentary presence.

Based on this data, the participation in the Council of Ministers of the deputies is possible Makariou Lazaridis who has worked closely in the past with the Prime Minister in his Ministry of Administrative Reform, the Dimitris Markopoulos who “came forward” in critical parliamentary procedures such as the Inquiry and Pre-Investigation Committees, the Kostas Giulekas which is a well-known name with a dynamic presence in Thessaloniki and stands out for its moderation and that of the MP for Magnesia Christos Boukoroucurrent ND parliamentary representative.