The

Caretaker Cabinet A caretaker government, also known as a caretaker regime, is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it co ...

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 A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case; they only interpret the relevant law. In this, they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In ...

, who was sworn in as

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

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 Alexis Tsipras (, ; born 28 July 1974) is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019. A left-wing figure, Tsipras was leader of the List of political parties in Greece, Greek political party Syriza from 200 ...

, who was leading a

Syriza The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance (), best known by the syllabic abbreviation SYRIZA ( ; ; a pun on the Greek adverb , meaning "from the roots" or "radically"), is a Centre-left politics, centre-left to Left-wing politi ...

- ANEL

coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

, 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. According to the

Greek constitution The Constitution of Greece () was created by the Fifth Revisionary Hellenic Parliament in 1974, after the fall of the Greek junta and the start of the Third Hellenic Republic. It came into force on 11 June 1975 (adopted two days prior) and has ...

, the

President of Greece The president of Greece, officially the president of the Hellenic Republic (), commonly referred to in Greek as the president of the Republic (, ΠτΔ), is the head of state of Greece. The president is elected by the Hellenic Parliament; the ...

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 ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' at the time as "a near impossibility given the current makeup of the parliament." On 27 August, the President,

Prokopis Pavlopoulos Prokopios "Prokopis" Pavlopoulos (, ; born 10 July 1950) is a Greek retired politician, who served as the president of Greece from 2015 to 2020. A member of New Democracy (Greece), New Democracy, he previously was Ministry of the Interior (Greece ...

, informed the party leaders that there was no chance of a coalition government being formed by the existing parliament. That evening, Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou was sworn in as the caretaker

Prime Minister of Greece The prime minister of the Hellenic Republic (), usually referred to as the prime minister of Greece (), is the head of government of the Greece, Hellenic Republic and the leader of the Cabinet of Greece, Greek Cabinet. The officeholder's of ...

. 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.

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 A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

. Petros Molyviatis, a "veteran diplomat", was appointed as

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

, a role he had held in 2012 and from 2004 to 2006. Alkistis Protopsalti, a singer, was appointed as the Alternate Minister of Tourism.

Composition

The cabinet was composed of ten full ministers, nine alternate ministers, one deputy minister and two

Ministers of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior ministers ...

, for a total of 22 members. This would become 23 members if the Government

Spokesman A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

, 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 Tryfon Alexiadis (; born 1960) is a Greek politician and tax collector. He is currently an Ministry of Finance (Greece), Alternate Minister of Finance in the Second Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras, second Tsipras cabinet, having succeeded Nadia Valavan ...

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

Cabinet

Ministers of State

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

References

{{Cabinets of Greece Cabinets of Greece Cabinets established in 2015 Cabinets disestablished in 2015 2015 in Greek politics 2015 establishments in Greece 2015 disestablishments in Greece Greek government-debt crisis Caretaker governments