CYPRUS'S FOUR NEW CABINET MINISTERS SWORN IN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NICOSIA 000596

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL ETRN CY
SUBJECT: CYPRUS'S FOUR NEW CABINET MINISTERS SWORN IN

REF: NICOSIA 579

(U) This cable is sensitive but unclassified. Please protect
accordingly.

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BACKGROUND
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1. (SBU) GOC President Tassos Papadopoulos announced July 13 the
appointment of four new ministers (including the first woman Foreign
Minister, career diplomat Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis) to serve for the
remaining seven months of the current administration. The four
replace the communist AKEL ministers who resigned en masse on July
11 following AKEL's decision to support party leader Demetris
Christofias (instead of Papadopoulos) in the February 2008
presidential elections (reftel). The new cabinet members were sworn
in on July 16 and, besides Kozakou-Marcoullis, include relative
unknowns Christos Patsalides as Minister of Interior, Maria
Malahtou-Pamballi as Minister of Communications and Works, and
Costas Kadis as Minister of Health. Please see below biographic
information on all four new ministers, as well as contact
information for the new Foreign Minister.

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Bio & Comment: Kozakou-Marcoullis
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2. (U) Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, Cyprus's new Minister of Foreign
Affairs, was born on August 3, 1949, in Limassol. She graduated in
1975 from the University of Athens, Greece, with degrees in Law and
in Public Law and Political Science. She did post graduate studies
at the University of Helsinki, Finland, and obtained a Ph.D. in
Sociology and Political Science in 1979. She served in the
Permanent Mission of Cyprus to the United Nations from 1980 to 1988.
She returned to Nicosia in 1989 and served in the Cyprus Question
Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until 1993. From 1993 to
1996, she served as Director of the Office of the Permanent
Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Kozakou-Marcoullis

SIPDIS
next served as Ambassador to Sweden (also accredited to Finland,
Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) from 1996
to 1998, and then as Ambassador to the United States starting in
September 1998 (also accredited as High Commissioner of Cyprus to
Canada, Guyana and Jamaica, and as Ambassador to Brazil). She
returned to Nicosia from the U.S. in September 2003 to head the
Cyprus Question Division of the Ministry. She has been,
concurrently, accredited as Ambassador to Lebanon and Jordan.
Ambassador Marcoullis is fluent in Greek and English and can speak
some French, Finnish, and Russian. She is married to oncologist Dr.
George Marcoullis, and has one son, Panos Marcoullis; her husband
and son are American citizens.


3. (SBU) Contact information:
Name: Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis
Title: Minister of Foreign Affairs
Mailing Address: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of
Cyprus, Proedrikou Avenue, 1447 Nicosia, Cyprus
Telephone numbers: 357 22 401200/401201 (office),357 99 318553
(cellular)
E-mail Address: elmarkoullis@mfa.gov.cy


4. (SBU) Kozakou-Marcoullis's appointment as Foreign Minister was
welcomed by pro-government and opposition parties alike because she
enjoys a reputation as a capable and accomplished diplomat. She is
Cyprus's first woman Foreign Minister. In her previous position as
Director of the Cyprus Question Division, she has shown a keen
interest in both U.S. and EU foreign assistance programs,
consistently attempting to assert GOC authority over them. The
other three new ministers are relative unknowns, and include a
second woman and two young academics. According to Embassy
contacts, Papadopoulos appointed these four new ministers on the
advice of his Athens-based campaign communications experts; he aims
to appeal to the female and youth votes. However, Papadopoulos
overlooked names recommended by his coalition partners DIKO and
EDEK, which wanted a stronger presence in the administration after
AKEL's departure. Seemingly deaf to this loss, Papadopoulos could
be treading on thin ice by ignoring his two remaining partners. How
well these appointments play politically remains to be seen.

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Bio: Patsalides
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5. (U) Dr. Christos Patsalides, the new Minister of Interior, was
born in Paphos in 1972. He studied at Hull University in the UK
from 1993 to 2000, and has a Ph.D. in EU Law, an M.Phil. in Law and
a Law Degree. From September 2005 to present, Patsalides has been
the Director of the Foundation of European Social and Political
Studies and an Assistant Professor of EU Law at Cyprus College in
Nicosia, serving as department chair of social sciences from 2003 to

NICOSIA 00000596 002 OF 002



2005.

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Bio: Malahtou-Pamballi
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6. (U) Maria Malahtou-Pamballi, the new Minister of Communications
and Works, was born in Limassol in 1961. In 1982, she graduated
from the University of Kent at Canterbury with a Bachelor of Arts,
with Honors. She continued her studies at the University of London,
where she graduated in 1983 with a Master of Law, specializing in
maritime and corporate law. Malahtou-Pamballi is a registered
attorney and has practiced law in Cyprus since 1984. She worked in
private law offices in Limassol from 1984 to 1990, after which she
was appointed as an attorney with the Attorney General's Office.
From 2001 to present, she held the position of Senior Attorney of
the Republic. She resides in Limassol and is married to Costas
Pamballis, President of the Limassol District Court. She has two
daughters.

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Bio: Kadis
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7. (U) Dr. Costas Kadis, the new Minister of Health, was born in
Nicosia in 1967. He studied Biology at the University of Athens,
where he received his degree in 1991. He continued his studies at
the University of Athens, receiving a Ph.D. in Biology Sciences,
with Honors, in 1995. After attending some teaching courses at
Cornell University, he returned to Cyprus in 1996 to work as a
Scientific Consultant at the Enalion Center of Environmental
Management, owned by the Cyprus Development Bank. In 1998, he was
appointed as Officer at the Research Promotion Institute. He
remained with the Institute until 2005, when he was appointed Head
of the Research Department at the Frederick Institute of Technology.
Also in 2005, he founded the Nature Conservation Unit, which has
received funding from the European Union, the United Nations, the
Research Promotion Institute, and the Government of Cyprus,
undertaking 12 research programs. Kadis has published several
articles in international scientific magazines and written several
environmental surveys. He is a member of many scientific committees
in Cyprus and abroad on natural environment and research issues.
Kadis is married to Marina Michaelidou-Kadi and has a daughter named
Sofia.

SCHLICHER