A cabinet reshuffle has rarely, if ever, saved a government in crisis. History shows that when an administration is struggling, the problem is usually not the people in office but the policies being implemented. Yet, speculation is growing that Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is planning a sweeping reshuffle, a move that appears to be more about political messaging than real change.
The June 2023 reshuffle serves as a prime example. Following the European elections, where New Democracy suffered significant losses just a year after its landslide victory in the national elections, the government replaced several ministers. However, the changes were largely met with indifference. The officials removed were not high-profile figures, and the move failed to shift the political climate.
The key question now is whether Mitsotakis will opt for a structural overhaul, removing top ministers and making changes in critical areas where the government is struggling. Issues such as inflation, public healthcare, housing, and security are pressing concerns for Greek citizens, and so far, the government has struggled to provide effective solutions.
Reshuffles have played a significant role in Greece’s modern political history. In the post-dictatorship era, Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis preferred small, targeted changes, replacing a few key figures when necessary. In contrast, Andreas Papandreou was known for his dramatic overhauls. In 1982, he replaced 22 ministers and deputies, and in 1985, just weeks after PASOK’s re-election, he reshuffled 35 government officials.
Other leaders have also used reshuffles as damage control. In the early 1990s, Konstantinos Mitsotakis dismissed Foreign Minister Antonis Samaras amid tensions over the Macedonia issue. Kostas Simitis reshuffled his cabinet following the controversial handling of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan’s arrest in 1999, removing his foreign, interior, and public order ministers. Kostas Karamanlis and George Papandreou made selective changes, while Antonis Samaras attempted to counter growing opposition momentum with a reshuffle in 2014, though it did little to prevent his government’s eventual collapse.
In 2018, the deadly Mati wildfires forced Alexis Tsipras to replace key ministers, but the changes failed to restore public trust. Now, following the devastating Tempi train disaster, Mitsotakis faces a similar test. If history is any indication, changing faces will not be enough to shift the political tide. Whether this reshuffle will break the pattern remains to be seen.
