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Caretaker Cabinet of Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou
Caretaker Cabinet of Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou
; Cabinet of Greece
	Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou in 2015
Date formed	27 August 2015
Date dissolved	21 September 2015
People and organisations
Head of state	Prokopis Pavlopoulos
Head of government	Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou
No. of ministers	22
Member parties	Independents and others
Status in legislature	Technocratic caretaker government
Opposition parties	None (caretaker cabinets in Greece have no formal opposition)
History
Legislature term	16th (2015–2015)
Predecessor	First Tsipras Cabinet
Successor	Second Tsipras Cabinet

The Caretaker Cabinet of Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou was formed following the resignation of the Syriza-ANEL coalition government on 20 August 2015, and the failure of opposition parties to form their own government. The cabinet was headed by Thanou-Christophilou, the President of the Court of Cassation, who was sworn in as prime minister on 27 August 2015, and the rest of the cabinet were sworn in the next day on 28 August. The cabinet remained in office until the completion of the legislative election on 20 September 2015.

Background

On 20 August 2015, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who was leading a Syriza-ANEL coalition government, resigned following a rebellion by party members on a key vote related to the third bailout package. Tsipras said that he needed a stronger mandate in order to implement the bailout package, and so called for a snap legislative election to take place in September.^[1]

According to the Greek constitution, the President of Greece could not just call an election, but had to consult all the major parties in turn to see if they could form their own government, described by The Guardian at the time as "a near impossibility given the current makeup of the parliament."^[2] On 27 August, the President, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, informed the party leaders that there was no chance of a coalition government being formed by the existing parliament.^[3]

That evening, Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou was sworn in as the caretaker Prime Minister of Greece.^[3] On 28 August, the rest of the caretaker cabinet were sworn in at the Presidential Mansion. Later that day, Pavlopoulos signed a degree for the snap election, setting the date at 20 September. Also, the caretaker cabinet had their first meeting where they agreed to work towards an "impeccable" election.^[4]

Appointments

George Chouliarakis, an academic economist who had been part of the Greek negotiating team during the talks surrounding the third bailout package, was appointed as Minister of Finance. Petros Molyviatis, a "veteran diplomat", was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs, a role he had held in 2012 and from 2004 to 2006. Alkistis Protopsalti, a singer, was appointed as the Alternate Minister of Tourism.^[1]

Composition

The cabinet was composed of ten full ministers, nine alternate ministers, one deputy minister and two Ministers of State, for a total of 22 members. This would become 23 members if the Government Spokesman, Rodolfos Moronis, was included. 20 members of the cabinet (including Moronis) were male; 3 were female.

Only two members of the First Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras remained in the same roles, Panagiotis Nikoloudis as Minister of State for Combatting Corruption and Tryfon Alexiadis as Alternate Minister of Finance. Dimitris Papangelopoulos had formerly served in Tsipras's cabinet as a Deputy Minister for Justice, but served as the Minister of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights in the Caretaker Cabinet.

Cabinet list

Prime minister

	Office	Incumbent	Party		Tenure
	Prime Minister	Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou		Independent	27 August 2015 – 21 September 2015

Cabinet

Ministry	Office	Incumbent		Tenure
1. Ministry of the Interior and Administrative Reconstruction	Minister of the Interior and Administrative Reconstruction	Professor Antonis Manitakis	Independent	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015
	Alternate Minister of Citizen Protection	Antonis Makrodimitris	Independent	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015
	Alternate Minister of Immigration Policy	Ioannis Mouzalas	Independent	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015
	Deputy Minister for Macedonia and Thrace	Filippos Tsalidis^a	Independent	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015
2. Ministry of Economy, Infrastructure, Shipping and Tourism	Minister of Economy, Infrastructure, Shipping and Tourism	Professor Nikos Christodoulakis	Independent	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015
	Alternate Minister of Shipping	Christos Zois	NEA MERA	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015
	Alternate Minister of Tourism	Alkistis Protopsalti	Independent	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015
3. Ministry of National Defence	Minister of National Defence	Air Chief Marshal Ioannis Giangos	Independent	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015
4. Ministry of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs	Minister of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs	Frosso Kiaou	Independent	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015
4. Ministry of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs	Alternate Minister of Culture	Marina Lambraki-Plaka	Independent	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015
5. Ministry of Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy	Minister of Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy	Professor Ioannis Golias	Independent	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015
	Alternate Minister of Environment and Energy	Constantinos Mousouroulis	New Democracy	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015
	Alternate Minister of Agricultural Development and Food	Dimitrios Melas	Independent	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015
6. Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights	Minister of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights	Dimitris Papangelopoulos	Independent	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015
7. Ministry of Foreign Affairs	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Petros Molyviatis	New Democracy	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015
7. Ministry of Foreign Affairs	Alternate Minister of European Affairs	Professor Spyridon Flogaitis	Independent	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015
8. Ministry of Finance	Minister of Finance	Giorgos Houliarakis	Independent	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015
8. Ministry of Finance	Alternate Minister of Finance	Tryfon Alexiadis	SYRIZA	18 July 2015 – 23 September 2015
9. Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity	Minister of Labour and Social Solidarity	Dimitris Moustakas	Independent	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015
10. Ministry of Health and Social Security	Minister of Health and Social Security	Athanasios Dimopoulos	Independent	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015

Ministers of State

Rank	Office	Incumbent		In office since
1.	Minister of State	Eleftherios Papageorgopoulos	Independent	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015
2.	Minister of State for Combatting Corruption	Panagiotis Nikoloudis	Independent	27 January 2015 – 23 September 2015
	Government Spokesperson	Rodolfos Moronis	Independent	28 August 2015 – 23 September 2015

Bold denotes full ministers attending the weekly cabinet council.
^a Deputy ministers are not members of the cabinet but may attend cabinet meetings.
References:^[5]^[6]