PRESIDENT-elect Nicos Anastasiades yesterday announced his cabinet, which included a couple of new faces but no women, which resulted in some criticism.
“There is a specific programme, which everyone is obliged to follow and put in place,” Anastasiades said, adding that he was happy with the composition of his cabinet.
Anastasiades has announced plans to create several junior minister positions, a move that will require new laws before it can be implemented.
The President-elect said he planned to submit the necessary bills in March and expressed the hope they would be passed before month’s end.
“We want a functional state, a state that can actively participate in the EU,” he said.
Anastasiades’ government partner, DIKO chairman Marios Garoyian, said the new cabinet was well equipped to tackle the challenges faced by Cyprus.
“The government formation combines experience and knowledge,” Garoyian said. “I think each one will be judged through their work and productivity.”
The absence of women in the cabinet however, has drawn criticism.
“The complete lack of women will not give the best image in Europe where the female presence is strong,” the Green party’s women movement said. “We call on the President-elect to reconsider … and include women in the cabinet.”
The Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies (MIGS) demanded equal representation.
In a statement issued before the official announcement of the cabinet, the institute said equality between men and women featured as a necessary condition for the effective implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy, as it pertained directly to improving the quantity and quality of women's employment, improving access to and the quality of affordable public services to children and the elderly, eliminating the pay gap and implementing measures to reconcile work and family life.
“In order to achieve the above, an important prerequisite is the participation of women in decision-making where we demand and expect substantial contribution in ensuring the equal representation of women and men in both the ministerial cabinet as well as other key political positions,” MIGS said. “A government cannot claim to be truly democratic without the equal participation of 51.3 per cent of the population and 60 per cent of the electorate at all levels of political and public life.”
The inauguration of the new cabinet will take place tomorrow morning.
AKEL said the new President and his government would be judged in good faith “based on what they do and not on the concerns and fears we voiced previously.”
The party did warn however that it would be a strong critic when necessary.
It started with criticising the absence of women from the cabinet, which AKEL said had taken Cypriot politics “many years back.”
The party also criticised the appointment of Michalis Sarris, a former senior banker, saying DISY was inconsistent as it used to criticise the outgoing president for appointing bankers to the finance ministry.
It also censured the appointment of Haris Georgiades – a hotelier -- to the labour ministry as the majority of his employees were foreign EU nationals instead of unemployed Cypriots, AKEL said.
EDEK said the new cabinet would be judged by its work but noted the absence of women and the “recycling” of a number of individuals from previous administrations.
EDEK had refused to participate in the new government.
Ioannis Kasoulides