Papadopoulos meeting ‘should not cause surprise’, Letymbiotis says

President Nikos Christodoulides’ decision to postpone this week’s cabinet meeting by a day so as to hold a meeting with Diko leader Nicholas Papadopoulos on Wednesday “should not cause any surprise”, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Thursday. “The president’s meeting with the leaderships of the parties which support the government take place at regular intervals and should not cause any surprise. This is something which goes without saying,” he said, before adding that “several meetings” involving Christodoulides and Papadopoulos “have already taken place”. Wednesday’s meeting, he said, was the fourth of its kind since May’s parliamentary elections. “Diko is a key partner of the government and has contributed and continues to contribute, like Dipa and Edek, to a large extent, to the implementation of the government’s work,” he said. Asked about the content of Wednesday’s meeting, he said that “it was a common view of everyone that the implementation of the government’s work, the polices which the government promotes and implements, are successes”. To this end, he said that members of Diko’s leadership “have recognised this since they themselves had proposed it during the pre-election period in a very characteristic way, recognising the positive aspects of participation in governance”. “In addition, there was an exchange of views on a number of issues,” he said, before saying that the meeting took place “in the spirit of respect an honesty which governs this cooperation”. Then asked whether the government was “bothered” by the fact that the letter sent by Papadopoulos to Christodoulides was leaked to the media, he said that “the choice of the person who leaked it does not concern the government”. Papadopoulos had written to Christodoulides on Tuesday, asking for a meeting to be held regarding “the possible cabinet reshuffle”, “the forthcoming appointments to the boards of semi-state organisations in view of the end of the incumbent members’ terms”, and “the way in which the governance agreement works and the cooperation between us”. Rumours of a cabinet reshuffle have been rife since May’s parliamentary elections, which saw two of the parties which have offered support to Christodoulides, Dipa and Edek, lose all their seats in the House. Between them, the two parties control three ministries, with Labour Minister Marinos Mousiouttas and Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas belonging to Dipa, and Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou belonging to Edek. Diko, with its eight seats in parliament, is now the only government-supporting party in the legislature, and as such may wish to use this fact to grow its stake in the current government. This sense may be heightened after Disy and its leader Annita Demetriou elected to stand for and win the House presidency rather than exchange the role for Diko’s support for her likely campaign at the 2028 presidential election. At present, three ministries are run by Diko, with Finance Minister Makis Keravnos, Energy Minister Michael Damianos, and Health Minister Neophytos Charalambides belonging to the party. Thus far, Christodoulides has refused to be publicly drawn on the prospect of a cabinet reshuffle, saying last month that he has “no comment” to make on the matter. Papadopoulos’ reference to “the way in which the governance agreement works and the cooperation between us”, too, may be noteworthy, with Diko having taken up a habit in recent decades of withdrawing its support for governments in the middle of their terms. Since 1993, only Papadopoulos’ father Tassos Papadopoulos has served as president without at some point during his term having lost the support of Diko. The party supported Glafcos Clerides’ government from its taking of office in 1993 until 1997, and then supported Demetris Christofias’ government from its taking of office in 2008 until 2001, before also supporting Nicos Anastasiades’ government from its taking of office in 2013 until 2014.