Government arrhythmias with conflicts between ministers in the background

The first clouds have already begun to appear for the new cabinet, as the last reshuffle seems to have caused upsets and new balances in the substance of government policy in many areas.

The shift by Giannis Ragousis concerning the deregulation of taxis is essentially leaving former Infrastructure minister Dimitris Reppas exposed and causing concern as to the extent of cooperation between many ministerial pairings s in the new positions.

Although there was an attempt to downsize the clash between Ragousis and Reppas, it definitely has its implications. Reppas is intended for the central role of informal cabinet meeting coordinator with increased responsibilities in developing the political strategy of the government, along with Regina Vartzeli. The actual objection by the new Infrastructure minister creates the feeling that it will be difficult to accept some new balances. Theodoros Pangalos’ crescendo, which had preceded the clash, challenged even the prime minister and was considered as an indirect reaction by the vice president to an attempted downgrade of his role, given the upgrade of Evangelos Venizelos.

A cabinet meeting is scheduled for Wednesday evening, and PM Giorgos Papandreou is likely to make an indirect address in order to contain the conflicts among his ministers.

Among the issues up nfor discussion are the policies for dealing with political violence incidents, the bill for the research, production and the network of hydrocarbons transfer, the bill for the operation  of electric and natural gas energy markets and the bill for the upgrade of volunteer firefighters and the relevant services.