Hatzidakis Promoted To Fin Min After PM Mitsotakis Secures 2nd Term

State broadcaster ERT reporting that Minister for Labour and Social Affairs Kostis Hatzidakis has been appointed as finance minister following the 25 June general election that delivered a majority for Kyriakos Mitsotakis' centre-right New Democracy. Hatzidakis (58) is seen as a safe pair of hands for the finance ministry, having served in a number of ministerial positions from 2012-2014 and then from 2019 onward, and prior to that as an MEP from 1994-2007.

• Hatzidakis likely to seek to continue on the market and investor friendly path charted by his predecessor Christos Staikouras, which has seen Greece shift back towards investment grade status.
• The securing of a majority of 158 seats in the 300-member parliament came as little surprise given polls had shown New Democracy holding a commanding lead ahead of the vote. In the wake of the election Mistostakis committed to his reform agenda that has seen Greece shift towards investment grade status.
• Mistotakis: “We will put into practice in the second four-year term big changes and big reforms. We have a strong mandate to implement these changes and a strong majority.”
• The election saw three new parties enter parliament, which now contains three far-right groupings: the right-wing populist Greek Solution, the Christian fundamentalist NIKI, and the ultranationalist Spartans. While ND holds a comfortable majority, having MPs will give these parties a platform to seek to disrupt gov't business.