According to the government spokesperson, the changes were decided by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and will take effect immediately. The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, April 4, at the Presidential Mansion in the presence of President Konstantinos Tasoulas.
The Ministry of Rural Development and Food will now be headed by Margaritis Schinas, the former Vice President of the European Commission, a choice government sources say reflects a strategic shift toward modernizing the ministry and improving the management of European agricultural funds. Evangelos Tournas will take over as Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, while responsibilities related to mental health policy at the Health Ministry will be redistributed internally following the departure of the deputy minister previously responsible for the portfolio.
Government officials said the reshuffle was carried out swiftly in order to prevent the ongoing OPEKEPE case from becoming a prolonged political crisis that could further damage the government. However, pressure on the prime minister’s office is expected to remain high, as another, smaller case file is reportedly expected to reach Parliament in the coming days and is said to involve two additional members of the ruling New Democracy party.
There are also discussions within government circles about possible further political moves, including the potential removal from the parliamentary group of two MPs who reportedly face felony-level charges, along with a request that they give up their parliamentary seats. Such moves would form part of what government sources describe as a “zero tolerance” strategy toward illegal conduct, regardless of political cost.
Officials also emphasized that the judicial process differs depending on the office held: requests to lift parliamentary immunity for MPs are handled through the judiciary, while cases involving ministers fall under the jurisdiction of Parliament under the Greek Constitution.
The reshuffle comes as the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has forwarded new case files to the Greek Parliament related to the OPEKEPE investigation. Prosecutors are requesting the lifting of parliamentary immunity for 11 MPs in order for potential criminal liability to be investigated, and the documents also propose the possible establishment of a parliamentary investigative committee concerning a former Minister of Rural Development and a former Deputy Minister.
One of the case files concerns former Minister of Rural Development Spilios Livanos and former Deputy Minister Fotini Arabatzi. According to the documents, evidence allegedly indicates the offense of moral instigation to breach of trust on a repeated basis, said to have taken place during the exercise of their official duties in Athens in 2021.
Two new case files have now been submitted to Parliament as part of the broader investigation. The documents concern 11 MPs whose immunity prosecutors want lifted so authorities can examine whether criminal responsibility exists. The MPs named in the files include Katerina Papakosta, Konstantinos Karamanlis, Ioannis Kefalogiannis, Panagiotis Mitarakis, Konstantinos Tsiaras, Konstantinos Skrekas, Dimitris Vartzopoulos, Maximos Senetakis, Vasileios Vasileiadis, Christos Boukoros and Theofilos Leontaridis.
The political climate in Greece is therefore expected to remain tense in the coming weeks as new legal developments emerge and the government attempts to contain the political fallout from the OPEKEPE investigation, while opposition parties accuse the government of trying to manage a corruption crisis through cabinet changes rather than addressing political responsibility. Calls for early elections have already begun to surface from opposition figures, suggesting the scandal could evolve into a broader political confrontation.
