Diko's Secretariat was back at the Presidential Palace on Wednesday for a third meeting with President Nikos Christodoulides, in what are expected to be the final consultations before the upcoming cabinet reshuffle.
The visit follows a meeting last Friday, 11 July, at which President Christodoulides turned down Diko's request to place party figures at the finance and interior ministries as part of the reshuffle. According to Politis's information, Wednesday's meeting was held in a better climate, with the president telling Secretariat members that better channels of communication and cooperation between the government and the party will be put in place over the coming period.
Weekly meetings on three levels
Friday's discussion opened with President Christodoulides announcing that Diko's request for better coordination would be met through a schedule of weekly meetings on three levels: a top-level meeting between the President of the Republic and the Diko leader, a meeting between Deputy Minister to the President Irene Piki and Diko parliamentary spokesman Panikos Leonidou, and regular meetings between the party's MPs and government ministers.
The cabinet reshuffle
On the reshuffle itself, President Christodoulides said he would make certain changes ahead of the departure of Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou, who has accepted an appointment in public education from this September. He made clear, however, that he has not yet settled on the scale of the reshuffle or which ministers it will affect, saying he first needs to inform those concerned before opening discussions with Diko.
Members of the Diko Secretariat, led by party leader Nicolas Papadopoulos, reminded the president that an understanding had been reached in 2023 for the party to hold 30% of seats on the Council of Ministers, equivalent to two ministries and two deputy ministries. They argued that Diko currently holds only two ministries in its own right, energy under deputy leader Michael Damianos and health under deputy leader Neophytos Charalambides, regardless of whether Finance Minister Makis Keravnos and Education Minister Athena Michaelidou are also counted in the party's favour.
According to Politis's information, President Christodoulides was sympathetic to Diko's push for a bigger role in government, given that it is now the only government-supporting party still represented in parliament following the election result. He made clear, though, that he has no intention of pushing Edek and Dipa out of government.
The same information indicates that the president agreed to Diko's request to submit a list of names for consideration in the reshuffle. It is not yet known which individuals the Diko leader has in mind, though the names of Yiorgos Solomos, Evi Tsolaki and Christos Senekis have come up, all of whom won a large number of preference votes in the election without being elected as MPs.
Semi-governmental organisations
At Friday's meeting, President Christodoulides also responded positively to Diko's request over appointments to the boards of semi-governmental organisations. Diko argues that party-affiliated candidates who apply to the Advisory Council for political appointments are being turned down on narrowly technocratic grounds, and stresses that these boards form part of the wider governing coalition. The president appeared receptive here too, committing to look into the matter in full.
