Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades on Wednesday announced a mini-reshuffle of his cabinet after a walkout by his coalition partner over resumed reunification talks with the Turkish Cypriots.
He brought three new faces into cabinet but retained the services of Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis, who resigned from centre-right DIKO after it walked out of government.
The recession-hit island is relying on untapped offshore gas reserves to boost the troubled Greek Cypriot economy. It also hopes to become a regional energy player.
All 11 cabinet ministers tendered their resignations last month to give the conservative president leeway to carry out a wider reshuffle but he asked them to remain at their posts.
DIKO party, which held four cabinet posts alongside rightwing DISY, pulled out of the coalition in protest at what it said were excessive Greek Cypriot concessions in a February 11 joint statement which relaunched UN-backed talks on ending the island's four-decade division.
The new ministers will be sworn in on Friday.
The coalition split comes a year after Anastasiades came to power in February 2013 on a platform of agreeing a bailout with lenders to save the eurozone country from financial ruin.
He has now turned his attention to the peace talks with the Turkish Cypriots after winning praise from international lenders for putting debt-ridden Cyprus back on track.
The international community has welcomed the new peace initiative, with greater input from Washington seen as enabling a breakthrough after two years of stalemate.
The two largest Greek Cypriot parties -- the ruling rightwing DISY and opposition communist party AKEL -- both support the UN-brokered peace push.
Rival Cypriot leaders are scheduled to meet again on March 31.
The island has been divided on ethnic lines since Turkish troops occupied its northern third in 1974 in response to an Athens-engineered coup aimed at uniting it with Greece.
Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades on Wednesday announced a mini-reshuffle of his cabinet after a walkout by his coalition partner over resumed reunification talks with the Turkish Cypriots.
He brought three new faces into cabinet but retained the services of Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis, who resigned from centre-right DIKO after it walked out of government.
The recession-hit island is relying on untapped offshore gas reserves to boost the troubled Greek Cypriot economy. It also hopes to become a regional energy player.
All 11 cabinet ministers tendered their resignations last month to give the conservative president leeway to carry out a wider reshuffle but he asked them to remain at their posts.
DIKO party, which held four cabinet posts alongside rightwing DISY, pulled out of the coalition in protest at what it said were excessive Greek Cypriot concessions in a February 11 joint statement which relaunched UN-backed talks on ending the island’s four-decade division.
The new ministers will be sworn in on Friday.
The coalition split comes a year after Anastasiades came to power in February 2013 on a platform of agreeing a bailout with lenders to save the eurozone country from financial ruin.
He has now turned his attention to the peace talks with the Turkish Cypriots after winning praise from international lenders for putting debt-ridden Cyprus back on track.
The international community has welcomed the new peace initiative, with greater input from Washington seen as enabling a breakthrough after two years of stalemate.
The two largest Greek Cypriot parties — the ruling rightwing DISY and opposition communist party AKEL — both support the UN-brokered peace push.
Rival Cypriot leaders are scheduled to meet again on March 31.
The island has been divided on ethnic lines since Turkish troops occupied its northern third in 1974 in response to an Athens-engineered coup aimed at uniting it with Greece.
