PAPADOPOULOS RE-SHUFFLES HIS CABINET; LILLIKAS

C O N F I D E N T I A L NICOSIA 000882

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/08/2021
TAGS: PGOV PREL CY
SUBJECT: PAPADOPOULOS RE-SHUFFLES HIS CABINET; LILLIKAS
REPLACES IACOVOU AS FOREIGN MINISTER


Classified By: Ambassador Ronald L. Schlicher; Reasons
1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) As expected, President Papadopoulos announced on June
8 that he was re-shuffling ministerial portfolios. George
Iacovou, who has served on separate occasions for combined
thirteen years as ROC Foreign Minister, is out. His
replacement, George Lillikas (AKEL),will move over from
Commerce and Industry. Deputy Minister to the President
Christodoulos Pashiardis will pick up Lillikas's
responsibilities as acting government spokesman. For now,
our contacts at the MFA expect Lillikas will make few if any
personnel changes when he comes on board. Iacovou's ExecSec
told us that he was planning to serve the new Minister in the
same capacity, albeit, he observed resignedly, with double
the workload.


2. (SBU) Overall, six ministers were dropped from the
cabinet. In addition to Iacovou, Justice Minister Theodorou,
Defense Minister Mavronicolas, Labor Minister Taliadorou,
Agriculture Minister Efthymiou, and Health Minister
Gavrielides will begin drawing their government pensions.
The new Ministers -- who will be sworn in on Tuesday, June 13
-- are:

Defense: Phivos Klokkaris (no formal party affiliation)
Justice and Public Order: Sofoclis Sofocleous (EDEK)
Commerce and Industry: Antonis Michaelides (DIKO)
Labor and Social Insurance: Antonis Vassiliou (EDEK)
Health: Haris Charalambous (AKEL)
Agriculture: Photis Photiou (DIKO)


3. (C) Interior Minister Christou, Finance Minister Sarris,
Education Minister Georghiades, and Minister of
Communications and Works Thrassou all retained their
positions. The overall balance among the coalition
"partners" in government shifted only slightly, with DIKO
picking up an extra position. AKEL has four ministers in the
new government, DIKO has three, and EDEK two. EDEK is
undoubtedly disappointed with losing the Defense Ministry,
but the chattering classes in Nicosia have been gossiping for
the last several days about how AKEL leader Christofias had
been insisting on Mavronicolas's removal. AKEL's victory may
well sour relations with EDEK, but it was a price Christofias
was quite willing to pay.


4. (C) Comment: The outcome of the widely-anticipated
re-shuffle is largely in line with expectations. From our
perspective, the most significant changes are at the MFA and
the Justice Ministry. Iacovou did not enjoy much clout in
the Papadopoulos administration, but he was a reasonable
interlocutor with an instinctively internationalist
orientation. Lillikas is much less experienced in the
foreign policy arena, and much closer to Tassos Papadopoulos.
This will give the MFA the opportunity to re-establish
itself as a serious player in Cyprus-issue policy making and
reclaim some of the ground it lost to the President's
Diplomatic Office under the leadership of Tasos Tzionis.
This new influence, however, will likely come at the cost of
moderation, especially since an old minister with no further
political ambitions has been replaced by a notably "hungry"
young politician who from his experience as a government
spokesman knows how to dish out the demagoguery on the Cyprus
issue.


5. (C) The change at Justice will probably prove a positive
one. Theodorou was a loose cannon with little influence and
less credibility. Sofocleous, the sitting mayor of Lefkara,
is a long-time contact of ours and a constructive
interlocutor. We will need to reaffirm early-on with
Sofocleous the understanding we had reached with Theodorou on
the modalities of MOJ/police cooperation in preparing the
annual Human Rights and Trafficking reports.
SCHLICHER