REPORTS emerged yesterday about a ‘shadow government’ emanating from coalition partner DIKO to ensue closer cooperation within the government.
According to Politis, during their meeting on Friday DIKO leader Marios Garoyian and President Demetris Christofias formalised a five-point plan, that included the creation a shadow cabinet similar to the system used by the UK, Australia and Canada.
Each Ministry is supposedly to be ‘shadowed’ by three or four members of DIKO for the purposes of observation of the policy directions and formulations prepared by each Ministry. On the basis of these observations DIKO will make suggestions which, following discussions with the ministers and the president, will form a part, or even the whole, of government policy.
The first test of the proposed system will take place in reference to the Finance Ministry, regarding which DIKO has already prepared suggestions for economic policy, Politis said.
In a letter to Gaoryian on February 19, which was publicised yesterday, Christofias said: “The President of the Republic is the guarantor of unity, to which all political forces certainly owe their participation. Unity is built through dialogue, consultation and mutual respect.”
The agreement between the two also calls for regularly scheduled meetings, approximately every ten days, between Garoyian, Christofias and AKEL general secretary Andros Kyprianou.
Approximately every three months meetings are to take place between the President, the political office of DIKO and the Executive Committee of DIKO. The agreement also calls for cooperation between the two parties and the President in order to avoid public juxtapositions on policy matters which harm the image of the government coalition.
As regards the President’s negotiating team on the Cyprus problem, whilse it has not been precluded that DIKO may in the end contribute two members to the team, the provisional consideration is for the newly-created post to be fulfilled by either Andreas Mavrogiannis, currently the Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the European Commission, or Nicos Emiliou, currently the permanent secretary of the Foreign Ministry.
While not excluding the possibility of DIKO obtaining a larger Ministerial portfolio in a future wider Cabinet reshuffling, Garoyian stressed that DIKO is not interested in the two Ministries vacated as result of EDEK’s departure from the ruling government coalition. The Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Communications are scheduled to be replaced prior to the next meeting of the Council of Ministers.
