In the course of shuffling his Cabinet on Friday, Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou sacrificed his finance minister, George Papaconstantinou. In Papaconstantinou's place the prime minister appointed his own chief rival in the Socialist Party, Defense Minister Evangelos Venizelos, in the hopes of pushing through a tough austerity package and warding off default.
Reuters reported that Venizelos took over from Papaconstantinou, while the latter was shunted to the environment ministry. Whether or not the move pays off remains to be seen; Papaconstantinou had the confidence of both leaders and markets internationally, and had negotiated Greece's first bailout last year, and Venizelos was Papandreou's second choice after he failed to convince Lucas Papademos, former vice president of the European Central Bank (ECB), to accept the post.