No cabinet reshuffle until after August

The government on Monday sought to tamper down talk of a pending cabinet reshuffle, saying only that President Nikos Christodoulides has taken no such decision for the moment.

Speaking to journalists at the presidential palace, director of the president’s press office Viktoras Papadopoulos said generically that “there is no issue of a reshuffle unless the president decides and announces it to the Cypriot people”.

He added: “It is his [the president’s] constitutional prerogative, but right now the president has nothing of the sort to announce.”

Speculation has been rife in the media about a possible shake-up of the ministers, in the wake of the devastating wildfires and amid accusations of incompetence on the part of authorities.

In particular, it’s said that two members of the cabinet are on their way out – Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis and Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou. They both got a great deal of flak for comments, perceived as insensitive, concerning the fires.

But according to Politis, the president had already planned a reshuffle prior to the forest fires; the recent crisis merely served to bring his decision forward.

In this respect, a reshuffle would go beyond the two ministers ‘tainted’ by the wildfires affair.

Initially, said the paper, Christodoulides had intended a restructuring of the cabinet just after the May 2026 legislative elections.

But during a meeting held last week with the leaders of the government coalition parties – Diko, Edek and Dipa – the president seems to have come under pressure to take action now, to allay the public outcry relating to the handling of the fires.

At that meeting, Christodoulides is said to have told the party leaders that “August is a holiday month and that a reshuffle would happen after that”. He did not get more specific.

Given that the next batch of opinion polls will come out in September, Politis suggested that month would also see the cabinet shake-up.

Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou might be another one to face the chop, given that his responsibilities include the 112 emergency alert system and the fact he’s the political supervisor of the Civil Defence.

However, because Ioannou hails from Disy, he could be kept on to draw voters from that party for the 2028 presidential elections.

Another possible departure is Finance Minister Makis Keravnos, outspoken about his opposition to the Great Sea Interconnector project. Rumours about his desire to leave the government had surfaced months ago.

Keravnos’ job could go to Irini Piki, currently the undersecretary to the president.