After a two-month gestation period, and following a series of consultations, leaks, phone calls, refusals, second thoughts and political ultrasounds, the President of the Republic finally unveiled his long-awaited cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday evening, triggering scenes of enthusiasm among his supporters.
The newborn is reportedly in excellent health. It weighs four ministries and a presidential office director and, to the great delight of the family, bears a striking resemblance to DIKO.
Watching the political footage, everyone understands that the person leaving the maternity ward holding flowers and receiving congratulations was Nicolas Papadopoulos.
“Congratulations,” people can now be heard telling him outside the delivery room of the Presidential Palace, because the government's DNA now unmistakably carries the DIKO genetic code.
DIKO has gained another two ministries, Transport and Agriculture, increasing its haul to four ministries and more.
Evanthia Tsolaki was appointed Minister of Transport and Christos Senekis Minister of Agriculture. Both were candidates in May's parliamentary elections but failed to secure seats in parliament.
What does that tell us?
It proves that in politics, when one ballot box closes, the door of a ministry may open.
Voters may leave you outside parliament, but the Presidential Palace is always there to offer a second chance, provided you belong to the right party, possess a basic political clientele and circumstances happen to be favourable. Such as, for example, the approach of the 2028 presidential election.
DIKO also secured the post of Director of the President's Office through the appointment of Panayiotis Palates, who is leaving his role as Commissioner for Citizens' Rights to move considerably closer to the president himself.
This is what one might call professional advancement.
From commissioner for all citizens to director for a single president.
The client base shrinks, but the influence grows.
Panayiotis Palates, also known as “Anti-Pambos”, is expected to feature prominently as a leading man should Black Cube release any future videos concerning support for the president's re-election campaign.
The changes
Numerically, at least, Nicolas Papadopoulos has every reason to be satisfied.
He now has four ministers he can regard as his own, together with two figures from the wider centrist political space, Makis Keravnos at Finance and Athina Michaelidou at Education, as well as the director of the president's office.
With some creative accounting, DIKO could soon begin describing the government as a subsidiary company with the Presidential Palace as a strategic investor.
To put things into perspective, the cabinet formed by Tassos Papadopoulos in 2003 had fewer DIKO ministers.
Who were they?
The evergreen Makis Keravnos, Pevkios Georgiades, Markos Kyprianou, Kypros Chrysostomides and Christodoulos Pasiardis.
Today, Christodoulides' cabinet contains six ministers linked to Nicolas Papadopoulos and two linked to Marios Karoyian.
The former "DIKO & Co Ltd" therefore controls no fewer than eight ministers.
Trojan horse
There is, of course, one major difference.
To borrow from Greek mythology, some might describe DIKO's presence in government as a Trojan Horse.
Then again, having many ministers does not necessarily mean they all obey instructions.
Makis Keravnos, for example, may come from DIKO, but on energy issues he does not seem particularly eager to sign whatever is forwarded to him from Griva Digeni Avenue.
On the contrary, he resists.
The result is that Nicolas experiences that familiar feeling all of us get when we want to push somebody around and discover it cannot be done.
Then there are Energy Minister Michalis Damianos and Health Minister Neophytos Charalambides, both vice-presidents of DIKO.
How much do they belong to DIKO's inner circle and how much to Team Christodoulides?
Papadopoulos wanted Charalambides to run as a parliamentary candidate in Limassol, but he refused.
Damianos, meanwhile, appears to operate more as a member of Christodoulides' inner circle than as a party emissary.
In other words, DIKO has many players on the field, but some are wearing the shirt of Team Presidential Palace rather than that of the club itself.
So who controls whom?
Does Nicolas control the cabinet, or does the resourceful Christodoulides control DIKO through the party members he appointed as ministers?
DISY
Within DISY, meanwhile, the Presidential Palace's effort to penetrate the party did not produce the catch it had been hoping for.
The only figure associated with the broader DISY camp to accept appointment was Tina Pavlou, who was appointed Deputy Minister of Social Welfare.
She had originally been destined for the Health Ministry, but plans changed.
Perhaps even cabinet reshuffles have roadworks, closed roads and diversion routes.
Klea Papaellina, whom some also consider close to DISY, is moving from Social Welfare to the Deputy Ministry of Culture.
The transfer confirms that in Cypriot politics, culture and social welfare sometimes depend on how Christodoulides happens to wake up after spending a night listening to Filipa complain.
To be fair, Papaellina is highly adaptable.
One day she is looking after social cohesion, the next she is overseeing antiquities, theatres and cultural events.
The important thing is to remain inside the ministerial vehicle while the seating arrangements change.
Constantinos Ioannou remains in government, despite claims that Nicolas Papadopoulos wanted him gone.
Nonsense.
Where, after all, would Christodoulides stand without Constantinos Ioannou and Makis Keravnos?
EDEK
EDEK, by contrast, emerged from the reshuffle carrying considerably lighter luggage.
It lost the Agriculture Ministry and gained the position of Commissioner for the Environment and Animal Welfare, to which Ilias Myrianthous was appointed.
From an entire ministry, it has been reduced to a commissioner's office responsible for kittens, puppies and the occasional mouflon in the Troodos mountains.
In political terminology, this is called “upgrading thematic focus”.
In everyday language, it means EDEK got the short end of the stick.
The president, however, has a ready-made justification:
“Who exactly am I supposed to talk to in EDEK?”
The new commissioner nevertheless enjoys a broad field of activity.
In addition to environmental protection and animal welfare, Myrianthous may wish to launch a rescue campaign for EDEK's political dinosaurs, which appear increasingly endangered following the latest election.
ELAM
Eirini Poyiatzi has been appointed Commissioner for Citizens' Rights.
She was a member of Nikos Christodoulides' 2023 election campaign team.
Another reminder that politics never forgets those who carried chairs, assembled stages and answered telephones during campaign season.
Eventually comes the time for recognition, especially when a vacancy appears because the previous occupant has moved a few corridors away.
Some people claim she belongs to DISY.
The truth is that most figures on the right started out in DISY, including Messrs Fytiris and Ioannides.
Poyiatzi, however, judging by her writings, appears politically closer to the average ELAM supporter and perhaps, as the character in Toy Story might say, “beyond”.
The scapegoats
Every reshuffle needs scapegoats.
Otherwise it is not a reshuffle but a family photograph with new chairs.
Leaving government are Maria Panayiotou, who departs voluntarily to take up a position in secondary education, Alexis Vafeades and Vasiliki Kassianidou.
The latter two appear to have been selected to “pay the price”, although nobody has yet clarified whether the marble involved is Cypriot or imported, nor whether a public tender process was held beforehand.
Costas Koumis, who had spent weeks looking certain to leave, survived at the last moment.
Christos Angelides' refusal to yield to pressure from the Presidential Palace and accept a ministerial post appears to have functioned as a political lifebuoy.
The Deputy Minister for Tourism can now market Cyprus with a new slogan:
“Come to the place where even cabinet reshuffles offer last-minute accommodation with half-board included.”
The chair
At the end of the day, the president changed a few faces, moved some people from one chair to another and confirmed that his government remains rooted in the political centre.
DIKO increased its footprint.
EDEK saw its influence reduced.
DISY was not infiltrated to the extent the Presidential Palace had hoped.
And Nicolas Papadopoulos gained ample reasons to smile, at least in public.
Papadopoulos already knows very well that there is a difference between having ministers who originate from your party and ministers who actually answer the phone when you call.
For now, however, this victory belongs to DIKO as well.
If Christodoulides wins re-election, though, anyone searching for a DIKO minister in his second cabinet may need to do so by candlelight.
