Ioannis Golias named energy minister in interim government

Ioannis Golias, a former Dean at the National Technical University of Athens, has been appointed Production Reconstruction, Environment and Energy Minister in Greece’s new interim government.

The ruling Syriza party resigned recently and called early elections, to take place on September 20, in search of a fresh four-year mandate.

Speaking at today’s handover ceremony, the new energy minister said he hoped his tenure will be a brief one. “We are here to ensure that the country heads towards elections smoothly,” Golias remarked.

His outgoing predecessor, Panos Skourletis – who had only recently been appointed energy minister in place of radical leftist Panagiotis Lafazanis, now at the helm of his newly launched anti-bailout and eurozone membership Popular Unity party – quipped that he hoped the interim minister’s tenure would be even shorter than his own.

Skourletis made note of pending issues at the energy ministry, such as final negotiations for the TAP (Trans-Adriatic Pipeline) project’s development, as well as an additional Greek-Russian pipeline being discussed.

Kostis Mousouroulis was appointed deputy minister, in charge of the environment portfolio, in place of Yiannis Tsironis.