Cabinet of Dimitris Christofias I
The cabinet of Dimitris Christofias I ruled the Republic of Cyprus between March 2008 and July 2011.
prolog
In the presidential elections on February 17, 2008, Christofias ( AKEL ) received 33.29% of the vote and was in second place just behind Ioannis Kasoulides ( DISY ), who received 33.51% of the vote. The incumbent President Tassos Papadopoulos ( DIKO ) surprisingly found himself in third place with 31.8%. Since none of the candidates could win a majority, a second ballot had to bring about the decision. In the runoff election on February 24, 2008 between Christofias and Kasoulides, the AKEL party leader won with 53.36% of the vote. As the new president, Christofias agreed on a coalition government with the DIKO party .
Cabinet members
.svg)
| Ministry | Official | Greek spelling |
|---|---|---|
| Prime Minister | Dimitris Christofias | Δημήτρης Χριστόφιας |
| Foreign minister | Márkos Kyprianoú | Μάρκος Κυπριανού |
| Interior minister | Neoklis Silikiotis | Νεοκλής Συλικιώτης |
| Finance minister | Charilaos Stavrakis | Χαρίλαος Σταυράκης |
| Defense Minister | Kostas Papakostas | Κώστας Παπακώστας |
| Minister of transport | Nikos Nikolaidis | Νίκος Νικολαϊδης |
| Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis from March 2010 | Ερατώ Κοζάκου-Μαρκουλλή | |
| Minister of Labor | Sotiroula Charalampus | Σωτηρούλα Χαραλάμπους |
| Education and Culture Minister | Andreas Dimitriou | Ανδρέας Δημητρίου |
| Minister of Economy, Industry and Tourism | Andonis Pashalidis | Αντώνης Πασχαλίδης |
| Minister of Health | Christos Patsalidis | Χρίστος Πατσαλίδης |
| Agriculture and Environment Minister | Michalis Polynikis | Μιχάλης Πολυνίκης |
| Dimitris Iliadis from March 2, 2010 | Δημήτρης Ηλιάδης | |
| Ministry of Justice and Public Order | Kypros chrysostomidis | Κύπρος Χρυσοστομίδης |
| Loukas Louka from December 22, 2008 | Λουκάς Λουκά | |
| Government spokesman | Stefanos Stefanou | Στέφανος Στεφάνου |
Reign
Cyprus conflict
The newly elected president regards reconciliation and reunification with the occupied northern part of the island as one of his most important tasks . Since Cyprus joined the EU in 2004, there have been no more talks between the two ethnic groups. Christofias, who is a proponent of reunification, resumed talks for the first time with the Turkish Cypriot Mehmet Ali Talât , who is considered a staunch EU supporter. Both sides spoke of progress in the course of the multiple meetings that had taken place between the two, but there was not enough time to come to an agreement. Talat was replaced in April 2010 by Derviş Eroğlu as President of the internationally unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Eroğlu is far more skeptical of reunification than his predecessor.
Financial crisis
In 2009 the global financial crisis also reached Cyprus and put the banks on the island under pressure. The state had to support banks in distress, which were repeatedly downgraded by rating agencies, with the result that the republic itself was downgraded. Christofias repeatedly commented publicly that the situation was under control and that the Europeans did not need help.
In the morning hours of July 11, 2011, there was a momentous explosion at a military base in the south of the island. A fire that broke out caused stored ammunition to explode. Opposition leader Nikos Anastasiadis reported that all 98 containers with about 2000 tons of gunpowder stored at the base had exploded. This accident killed 15 people and over 60 people, some seriously injured, were flown to nearby hospitals in Larnaka and Nicosia. The explosions were so violent that they severely damaged a nearby power station, which supplied half the country with electricity. As a result, there were repeated power outages all over the island, which temporarily paralyzed air traffic. There were also problems with the water supply, since the corresponding pumping systems did not work without electricity. In various cities, the water had to be rationed and authorities decided that there would only be water every two days, for a maximum of 12 hours, in order to avoid drying out due to the very hot summer. The president called on households and companies to avoid unnecessary electricity consumption and, for example, to do without air conditioning. Various media criticized that the ammunition, which was once confiscated when it was on a ship from Iran on its way to Syria, was not properly stored and revealed that the government had received several verbal and written reports of this source of danger. Defense Minister Papakostas resigned from his ministerial office as a consequence of these revelations.
The cost of the accident ran into billions and burdened companies and the state in addition to the already existing economic crisis, whereupon various rating agencies further downgraded the country. The horror of the people that the government knew about the danger but did not act, moved tens of thousands of people to the streets, who demonstrated against the president and asked him and his government to resign. The two ruling coalition parties decided on an austerity package to counteract the crisis, which was blocked again by Christofias at the last moment because there was disagreement on the way forward, the DIKO terminated the coalition agreement in July and its ministers resigned from the government . The next day, the President asked his entire cabinet to resign. But he did not draw any conclusions for himself.
sequence
With the break of the coalition and the resignation of all ministers from his cabinet at the end of July 2011, the cabinet of Dimitris Christofias II took over the task of government at the beginning of August .
Web links
- Portrait of Dimitris Christofias , article in the Augsburger Allgemeine .
Individual evidence
- ↑ official final result , Cypriot Embassy Berlin ( Memento of the original from June 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Fear of reunification , Tagesspiegel.de
- ^ Explosion at naval base , Abendblatt.de
- ↑ Cyprus threatens junk status , Tagesspiegel.de
