ND officials see reshuffle as a lifeline
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis is coming under increasing pressure from members of the government to reshuffle his Cabinet before he delivers his speech at the Thessaloniki International Fair in less then two weeks, sources said yesterday. There is concern within New Democracy ranks that last weekend’s northeastern Attica wildfires have damaged the party’s standing even further. Many conservatives believe that the only way to get the party onto the road to recovery is to change some of the ministers. They also fear that unless Karamanlis conducts the reshuffle, he will be on the defensive when he faces journalists in Thessaloniki on Sunday, September 6, at the traditional trade fair press conference. However, some close aides of the prime minister insisted in private yesterday that there would be no reshuffle before the exhibition as Karamanlis does not want to be seen to be influenced in his decisions by the sudden turn of events and the media criticism that followed the fires. The speculation about a possible reshuffle has led to conservative officials pulling out their knives for some ministers. Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos, his deputy Christos Markoyiannakis and government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros, all deemed to have handled the fallout from the fires badly, are the targets of most criticism. Meanwhile, police are investigating a possible connection between a protest against the creation of a landfill at Grammatiko, northeast of Athens, and the wildfire that started in the same area last Friday and sparked the blaze the burned all the way to the city’s suburbs. Five people were arrested following the July 7 landfill protest after a fire service helicopter allegedly spotted them attempting to start a fire near a forested area. The five men, who include a member of the local council, denied the accusations. A magistrate released them after charging four of the group with arson.
