Caretaker Cabinet of Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou | |
---|---|
Cabinet of Greece | |
Date formed | 27 August 2015 |
Date dissolved | 21 September 2015 |
People and organisations | |
Head of state | Prokopis Pavlopoulos |
Head of government | Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou |
No. of ministers | 22 |
Member parties | Independents and others |
Status in legislature | Technocratic caretaker government |
Opposition parties | None (caretaker cabinets in Greece have no formal opposition) |
History | |
Legislature term | 16th (2015–2015) |
Predecessor | First Tsipras Cabinet |
Successor | Second Tsipras Cabinet |
| ||
---|---|---|
Prime Minister of Greece | ||
The Caretaker Cabinet of Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou was formed following the resignation of the Syriza-ANEL coalition government on 20 August 2015, and the failure of opposition parties to form their own government. The cabinet was headed by Thanou-Christophilou, the President of the Court of Cassation, who was sworn in as prime minister on 27 August 2015, and the rest of the cabinet were sworn in the next day on 28 August. The cabinet remained in office until the completion of the legislative election on 20 September 2015.
On 20 August 2015, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who was leading a Syriza-ANEL coalition government, resigned following a rebellion by party members on a key vote related to the third bailout package. Tsipras said that he needed a stronger mandate in order to implement the bailout package, and so called for a snap legislative election to take place in September. [1]
According to the Greek constitution, the President of Greece could not just call an election, but had to consult all the major parties in turn to see if they could form their own government, described by The Guardian at the time as "a near impossibility given the current makeup of the parliament." [2] On 27 August, the President, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, informed the party leaders that there was no chance of a coalition government being formed by the existing parliament. [3]
That evening, Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou was sworn in as the caretaker Prime Minister of Greece. [3] On 28 August, the rest of the caretaker cabinet were sworn in at the Presidential Mansion. Later that day, Pavlopoulos signed a degree for the snap election, setting the date at 20 September. Also, the caretaker cabinet had their first meeting where they agreed to work towards an "impeccable" election. [4]
George Chouliarakis, an academic economist who had been part of the Greek negotiating team during the talks surrounding the third bailout package, was appointed as Minister of Finance. Petros Molyviatis, a "veteran diplomat", was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs, a role he had held in 2012 and from 2004 to 2006. Alkistis Protopsalti, a singer, was appointed as the Alternate Minister of Tourism. [1]
The cabinet was composed of ten full ministers, nine alternate ministers, one deputy minister and two Ministers of State, for a total of 22 members. This would become 23 members if the Government Spokesman, Rodolfos Moronis, was included. 20 members of the cabinet (including Moronis) were male; 3 were female.
Only two members of the First Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras remained in the same roles, Panagiotis Nikoloudis as Minister of State for Combatting Corruption and Tryfon Alexiadis as Alternate Minister of Finance. Dimitris Papangelopoulos had formerly served in Tsipras's cabinet as a Deputy Minister for Justice, but served as the Minister of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights in the Caretaker Cabinet.
Office | Incumbent | Party | Tenure | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Prime Minister | Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou | Independent | 27 August 2015 – 21 September 2015 |
Ministry | Office | Incumbent | Party | Tenure | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Ministry of the Interior and Administrative Reconstruction | Minister of the Interior and Administrative Reconstruction | Professor Antonis Manitakis | Independent | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 | |
Alternate Minister of Citizen Protection | Antonis Makrodimitris | Independent | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 | ||
Alternate Minister of Immigration Policy | Ioannis Mouzalas | Independent | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 | ||
Deputy Minister for Macedonia and Thrace | Filippos Tsalidis a | Independent | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 | ||
2. Ministry of Economy, Infrastructure, Shipping and Tourism | Minister of Economy, Infrastructure, Shipping and Tourism | Professor Nikos Christodoulakis | Independent | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 | |
Alternate Minister of Shipping | Christos Zois | NEA MERA | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 | ||
Alternate Minister of Tourism | Alkistis Protopsalti | Independent | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 | ||
3. Ministry of National Defence | Minister of National Defence | Air Chief Marshal Ioannis Giangos | Independent | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 | |
4. Ministry of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs | Minister of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs | Frosso Kiaou | Independent | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 | |
Alternate Minister of Culture | Marina Lambraki-Plaka | Independent | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 | ||
5. Ministry of Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy | Minister of Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy | Professor Ioannis Golias | Independent | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 | |
Alternate Minister of Environment and Energy | Constantinos Mousouroulis | New Democracy | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 | ||
Alternate Minister of Agricultural Development and Food | Dimitrios Melas | Independent | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 | ||
6. Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights | Minister of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights | Dimitris Papangelopoulos | Independent | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 | |
7. Ministry of Foreign Affairs | Minister of Foreign Affairs | Petros Molyviatis | New Democracy | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 | |
Alternate Minister of European Affairs | Professor Spyridon Flogaitis | Independent | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 | ||
8. Ministry of Finance | Minister of Finance | Giorgos Houliarakis | Independent | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 | |
Alternate Minister of Finance | Tryfon Alexiadis | SYRIZA | 18 July 2015 – 23 September 2015 | ||
9. Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity | Minister of Labour and Social Solidarity | Dimitris Moustakas | Independent | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 | |
10. Ministry of Health and Social Security | Minister of Health and Social Security | Athanasios Dimopoulos | Independent | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 |
Rank | Office | Incumbent | Party | In office since | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Minister of State | Eleftherios Papageorgopoulos | Independent | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 | |
2. | Minister of State for Combatting Corruption | Panagiotis Nikoloudis | Independent | 27 January 2015 – 23 September 2015 | |
Government Spokesperson | Rodolfos Moronis | Independent | 28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015 |
Bold denotes full ministers attending the weekly cabinet council.
a Deputy ministers are not members of the cabinet but may attend cabinet meetings.
References: [5] [6]
Petros G. Molyviatis is a Greek politician and diplomat who served three times as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2004 to 2006, May to June 2012, and August to September 2015.
The Third Hellenic Republic is the period in modern Greek history that stretches from 1974, with the fall of the Greek military junta and the final confirmation of the abolishment of the Greek monarchy, to the present day.
Alexis Tsipras is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019.
European Parliament elections were held in Greece on 25 May 2014 to elect the 21 Greek members of the European Parliament. The number of seats allocated to Greece declined from 22 to 21, as a result of the 2013 reapportionment of seats in the European Parliament.
The Greek government-debt crisis began in 2009 and, as of November 2017, was still ongoing. During this period, many changes had occurred in Greece. The income of many Greeks has declined, levels of unemployment have increased, elections and resignations of politicians have altered the country's political landscape radically, the Greek parliament has passed many austerity bills, and protests have become common sights throughout the country.
Legislative elections were held in Greece on Sunday, 20 September 2015, following Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' announced resignation on 20 August. At stake were all 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament. This was a snap election, the sixth since 2007, since new elections were not due until February 2019.
The following lists events that happened during 2015 in Greece.
Following his victory in legislative elections held on 25 January 2015, the newly elected prime minister Alexis Tsipras appointed a new cabinet to succeed the cabinet of Antonis Samaras, his predecessor. A significant reshuffle took place on 17 July 2015.
Euclid Stefanou Tsakalotos is a Greek economist and politician who was Minister of Finance of Greece from 2015 to 2019. He was also a member of the Central Committee of Syriza and has represented Athens B in the Hellenic Parliament since May 2012. He left Syriza in November 2023 and on 5 December 2023 he became founding member of New Left (Greece) parliamentary group.
Nikos Xydakis is a Greek journalist, art critic, and left-wing politician. From 27 January to 28 August 2015, he served as the Alternate Minister for Culture in the cabinet of Alexis Tsipras. From 23 September 2015 to 5 November 2016, he served as the Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs.
George Chouliarakis, also transliterated as Giorgos Houliarakis, is a Greek academic and politician who served as an Alternate Minister of Finance in the Second Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras, serving under Euclid Tsakalotos. Chouliarakis was formerly the interim Minister of Finance in the caretaker government led by Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou.
Olga-Nadia Valavani is a Greek politician and economist. She was appointed to the role of Alternate Minister of Finance in the cabinet of Alexis Tsipras on 27 January 2015. She resigned from this role on 15 July 2015, before a significant vote on the terms of a bailout package in the Hellenic Parliament.
Maria Kollia Tsaroucha is a Greek politician from Serres. She was Deputy Minister for Macedonia and Thrace and later Deputy Minister for National Defence between 2015 and 2019 in the First and Second Cabinets of Alexis Tsipras. She was also a Member of Parliament with New Democracy and the Independent Greeks from 2000 to 2019, during which she was Deputy Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament from 2012 to 2015.
Tryfon Alexiadis is a Greek politician and tax collector. He is currently an Alternate Minister of Finance in the second Tsipras cabinet, having succeeded Nadia Valavani on 17 July 2015, and served continuously during the first Tsipras cabinet and the Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou caretaker cabinet.
Vasiliki Thanou-Christophilou, also known as just Vasiliki Thanou, is a Greek judge who served as caretaker prime minister of Greece from 27 August to 21 September 2015, in the run-up to the September 2015 legislative election. She was the first-ever female Greek prime minister and the 98th officeholder since 1822.
Dimitris Papangelopoulos is a Greek lawyer and politician who served as Alternate Minister of Corruption Issues in the Second Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras.
Christos Zois is a Greek politician. He is currently the leader of NEA MERA, and Deputy Chairman of the Union for the Homeland and the People.
Ioannis Mouzalas is a Greek obstetrician-gynecologist, surgeon and one of the founding members of the Greek chapter of Doctors of the World.
The Second Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras was sworn in on 23 September 2015, following the Greek legislative election in September 2015. Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza, was sworn in as Prime Minister of Greece on 21 September, having agreed to re-form the coalition with Panos Kammenos and the Independent Greeks.