Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08NICOSIA153
2008-02-29 15:10:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Nicosia
Cable title:  

NEW CYPRIOT CABINET NAMED; FEW SURPRISES

Tags:  PGOV PREL CY 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NICOSIA 000153 

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL CY
SUBJECT: NEW CYPRIOT CABINET NAMED; FEW SURPRISES

Reference: A) Nicosia 123 B) Nicosia 114

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NICOSIA 000153

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SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL CY
SUBJECT: NEW CYPRIOT CABINET NAMED; FEW SURPRISES

Reference: A) Nicosia 123 B) Nicosia 114


1. Summary: After four days of difficult deliberations with the
parties that supported his candidacy, RoC President-elect Demetris
Christofias on February 28 announced the members of his cabinet.
Filling the 11-member body are four ministers from Christofias's
AKEL party, three from DIKO, two from EDEK, one from the Front for
the Restoration of the Center, and one independent, the new Minister
of Finance. At his same-day inauguration, Christofias pledged that
solving the Cyprus Problem was the top priority of his presidency.
Cabinet member bios begin in Paragraph 6. End Summary.

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Christofias's First Moves
--------------


2. As agreed in their pre-runoff negotiations (Reftels),shortly
after his February 24 election, Republic of Cyprus President
Demetris Christofias began staffing consultations with the parties
that supported his candidacy. Up for grabs were eleven cabinet
seats, a handful of high-level positions at the Presidential Palace,
and the European Health Commissioner slot (vacant upon the
reassignment of incumbent Marcos Kyprianou, who now heads the MFA).
Deliberations ran smoothly with all parties except DIKO, which
delayed submitting a candidate list because of internal discord and
the hard-to-swallow conditions that Christofias had set (the
President was adamant he would have the last word on appointments,
and demanded that the other parties simply submit nominee lists.)
He also mandated that all new ministers pledge to adhere fully to
his pre-election program.


3. The new cabinet includes four AKEL-affiliated Ministers: AKEL
Central Committee staffer Neoclis Silikiotis returns for a second
stint as Minister of Interior; Sotiroula Charalambous, AKEL MP and
long-time labor union official, as Minister of Labor; AKEL MP Costas
Papacostas as Minister of Defense; and AKEL-affiliated academic
Andreas Demetriou as Minister of Education. In addition to Marcos
Kyprianou as Foreign Minister, DIKO's ministers include former
Interior Minister Christos Patsalides as Minister of Health, and
lawyer Antonis Paschalides as Minister of Commerce, Industry and
Tourism. The ministers hailing from EDEK are relative unknowns:
Limassol EDEK District Committee President Nicos Nicolaides as
Minister of Communications and Works, and a central committee member

from Paphos, Michalis Polynikis, as Minister of Agriculture, Natural
Resources and Environment. The leader of the tiny Front for the
Restoration of the Center, former Government Spokesman Kypros
Chrysostomides, is the new Minister of Justice and Public Order,
while the Ministry of Finance went to non-affiliated banker
Charilaos Stavrakis.


4. Christofias's former campaign spokesman, Stefanos Stefanou, is
the new Government Spokesman, while Christofias's choice to fill the
Commission slot, former First Lady and current United Democrats MP
Androula Vassiliou, should win EU confirmation within days.
Three-time former Foreign Minister George Iacovou was appointed
Presidential Commissioner, a newly-created position. Christofias
abolished the post of Diplomatic Coordinator, until now held by
chief RoC negotiator, Intelligence Service chief, and close Tassos
Papadopoulos confidant Tasos Tzionis.


5. President Christofias was invested February 28 in a brief
ceremony at the House of Representatives. In his inaugural
statement he reiterated the main points of his election-night
speech, stressing that he had run for president only "to fulfill his
life-long vision of solving the Cyprus Problem and building a fairer
society." He repeated that the desired Cyprus end-state was a
bizonal, bicommunal federation, and emphasized his support for
"political equality of the two communities in the framework of a
federation, as defined in the relevant UNSC resolutions." In what
is viewed as a nod to opposition DISY to return to the National
Council, Christofias pledged to upgrade the institution and make it
more effective. Referring to his economic policy, he will continue
to improve the "mixed economic model, based on cooperation between
private, public, and cooperative sectors."

--------------
Biographies of Cabinet Members
--------------


6. Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou was born in Limassol in 1960.
He is the son of the late former President of the Republic of
Cyprus, Spyros Kyprianou. He studied Law at the National and
Kapodistrian University of Athens and did graduate studies (LL.M.)
at Trinity College of the University of Cambridge, in the U.K., and
at Harvard Law. He was active in politics from his student years
and served in various DIKO party posts. He was elected to the House
of Representatives in 1991, 1996 and 2001, but resigned his seat in
2003 when he was appointed Minister of Finance by Tassos
Papadopoulos. He became EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer
Protection on May 1, 2004 when Cyprus joined the EU.


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7. The new Minister of Finance, Charilaos Stavrakis, was born in
1956 and holds a BSc in Economics from Cambridge University and an
MBA from Harvard. After a two-month stint in the World Bank in
1989, he joined the Bank of Cyprus and worked in various posts. In
2005 he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Bank's
operations in Cyprus and Deputy Group Executive Officer, in addition
to his duties as Director of the Bank's many sister companies. In
June 2005, he became Chairman of the Board of the parastatal Cyprus
Electricity Authority.

8. Interior Minister Neoclis Silikiotis was born in 1959 and
studied engineering in Aachen, Germany, where he was active in the
student movement. Upon his return to Cyprus in 1987, he worked for
EDON, the youth organization of AKEL, in the student sector and in
international relations. In 1995 he became a full time employee of
AKEL's Central Committee. He was the head of the Education Bureau
of the party and a member of the Education Council. He was
appointed Minister of Interior in September 2006, but resigned in
July 2007 along with all other AKEL Ministers when Christofias
announced his candidacy for the presidency.

9. Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Antonis Paschalides
was born in 1955 and studied Law in the UK. He is the managing
partner of the Antonis Paschalides and Company law firm. He was a
member of DIKO, but left the party in 1988 together with former DIKO
leading official Alexis Galanos to form the party KEA
(Eurodemocratic Renewal Movement). After Galanos's resignation in
1999, he became the leader of KEA. He merged his party with DIKO in
2006 and is a member of its executive secretariat.


10. New Labor Minister Sotiroula Charalambous was born in 1963 and
studied political and social sciences in Sofia, Bulgaria. Upon her
return to Cyprus in 1986, she was hired by left-wing labor
federation PEO and served in various posts there. She is also a
member of the Central Committee of AKEL and member of the executive
secretariat of AKEL's women's movement, POGO. She was elected to

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the House of Representatives in 2001 and 2006.


11. The new Minister of Defense, Costas Papacostas, was born in
1939 and graduated from the Senior War College and the National
Defense School of Greece. Later he attended specialized police
training in the United States and Germany on counter-terrorism and
on crisis management. He served for 18 years in the Greek Cypriot
National Guard and was promoted to Colonel. In 1973, he joined the
Auxiliary Police Unit which was set up to counteract the action of
EOKA B, the group which eventually participated in the coup against
then-leader Archbishop Makarios. Papacostas was promoted to Deputy
Chief of Police but resigned in 1996, citing his political bosses'
poor oversight of the police force. Representing AKEL in the
Famagusta district, he was elected to the House of Representatives
in 2001 and 2006.


12. The new Minister of Education and Culture, Andreas Demetriou,
was born in 1950 and has a PhD in Psychology from the Aristotelion
University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He also did graduate studies on
psychology at the University of New South Wales in Australia.
Demetriou taught psychology at various universities including
Aristotelion, the University of Cyprus, and universities in
Switzerland and Slovakia. At the time of his appointment, he was
Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the
University of Cyprus and President of the Interim Governing Board of
the Technological University of Cyprus.


13. Kypros Chrysostomides, the new Minister of Justice and Public
Order, was born 1942. He studied Law at the University of Athens,
Comparative Law at the Luxembourg Law School, and has a Ph.D. in Law
from the University of Bonn. He worked for four years with the
European Commission of Human Rights of the Council of Europe.
Chrysostomides returned to Cyprus in 1973 and began practicing law
in Nicosia. He was an active member of the Democratic Party (DIKO)
and served the party from various positions, being elected Deputy
General Secretary in 1988 and serving on the party's executive
committee. In the mid-90's he broke ranks with DIKO and in 1998
formed his own political movement, the Front for the Reconstruction
of the Center, which he continues to lead. In 2001, Chrysostomides
unsuccessfully ran for Mayor of Nicosia. From 2003 to January 2006
he served as Government Spokesman in President Papadopoulos's
administration.


14. The youngest member of the new cabinet, Minister of Health
Christos Patsalides, is also the only carryover from the
Papadopoulos era. Born in 1973, he studied at the UK's Hull
University from 1993 to 2000, and has a Ph.D. in EU Law. From 2005
to 2007 he was the Director of the Foundation of European Social and
Political Studies, and an Assistant Professor of EU Law at Cyprus
College in Nicosia. He was appointed Minister of Interior on July
16, 2007.


15. Nicos Nicolaides, the new Minister of Communications and Works,
was born in 1953. He studied in the United States and has a BSc and
an MSc in Electrical Engineering from Dartmouth College and the
University of South California, respectively. He spent much of his
career with the semi-governmental Cyprus Electricity Authority, and

NICOSIA 00000153 003 OF 003


at the time of his appointment, he was Deputy Director for Limassol
District. He is a member of the EDEK central committee and is
president of party's Limassol organization.


16. The Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment,
Michalis Polynikis Charalambides, was born in 1948 and studied
medicine in Athens. He worked in Greek hospitals until 1991, when
he returned to Cyprus to open his own private practice in his home
town of Paphos. Charalambides belongs to the EDEK central committee
and political bureau, and heads the party's Paphos organization.


17. The new Government spokesman, Stephanos Stephanou, was born in
1965 and studied Political Sciences at the Academy of Social
Sciences and Social Administration of Sofia, Bulgaria. On
completion of his studies he was hired by the youth organization of
AKEL, EDON, as chief editor of the organization's newsletter. In
1996, he was elected General Secretary of EDON. In 2001 Stephanou
was appointed director of the House Speaker's office, under
then-Speaker Demetris Christofias. During the election campaign,
Stephanou served as Christofias's spokesman.

SCHLICHER