Yahoo Finance Greece Bailout: Reshuffle As Deadline Looms
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has announced an overhaul of his cabinet, days after a junior coalition partner quit the government.
Restless and visibly fatigued from having faced down the gravest political crisis to grip his government just a year after his election win, Mr Samaras is determined to press ahead with key reforms and avert a swift return to the ballot box.
He told his revamped cabinet council to waste no time in pushing through reforms and delivering on commitments the government has agreed to in exchange for bailouts from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He said: "There is no time to lose. There are pending issues that must be resolved and deadlines that have to be met for Greece to secure its next (bailout) instalment.
"We have to work at a faster pace and in tighter synergy."
Although key posts like the finance ministry remained in the same hands, Mr Samaras appointed new ministers for the posts of foreign affairs, justice, transport, defence and health.
US-trained economist Kyriakos Mitsotakis was given the most crucial job, replacing Antonis Manitakis as minister of public administration, who infuriated creditors with his resistance to mass public sector layoffs and the closure of state organisations.
Mr Mitsotakis must sack some 2,000 public sector workers by June 30 and a further 2,000 by the end of the year.
Mr Samaras's year-old government nearly collapsed last week after his smallest coalition partner pulled out in protest against the prime minister's sudden shut down of the state broadcaster.
The ERT fired all its 2,656 employees with no prior notice.
Waged in the name of austerity, the kill-off was intended to show lenders that Greece was serious about its to commitments to cull some 15,000 public sector employees by 2014.
However, the boldness of the move backfired, leaving Mr Samaras and his conservative party relying exclusively on their longstanding ideological foe, the Socialist Pasok party.
The two-party coalition controls 153 seats in Parliament - a slender three-seat majority which pundits, politicians and the public fear could spell a short-lived coalition.
"Even if it survives for now, a limping government can not last for long," said John Loulis, a leading political strategist.
"There will be more crises. They won't be able to push reforms. At some point - sooner rather than later - we'll have early elections."
The stakes are high in Greece, especially since the government's bid to sell off the country's natural gas company to Russia (EUREX: OMRU.EX - news) 's Gazprom (MCX: GAZP.ME - news) floundered.
Failure to woo Gazprom back into the bidding process or attract new investors could mean further budget cuts for Greeks already reeling from three years of austerity.
The cabinet reshuffle comes a week after European and IMF inspectors suspended a review of Greece's public finances. They warned IMF loan payouts could be affected if the review is not completed by July.
With the new government in place, the inspectors are set to return to Greece next week to finalise a 1.8bn euro (£1.5bn) rescue aid package.
If no deal is reached, creditors may have no option other than to pull the plug on further Greek funding.
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