Greece's embattled leader reshuffled his Cabinet on Wednesday but retained his interior minister, who has been sharply criticized for the government's handling of riots across the nation last month.
The riots, the worst civil unrest Greece had seen in decades, spread to many cities and hurt the increasingly unpopular Conservative government, 16 months after Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis was re-elected. He has a majority of just one seat in parliament, and has faced several scandals and dissent within his own party.
The changes in the Karamanlis' reshuffle included the replacement of Giorgos Alogoskoufis as finance minister by his deputy, Yiannis Papathanasiou. Alogoskoufis has been credited with maintaining relatively high growth as Europe's economy slowed down, but also had to implement unpopular spending restraints.
The prime minister kept several other key posts unchanged, including the ministers of defense, foreign affairs and interior, who oversees the police.
Giorgos Papaconstantinou, a spokesman for the opposition Socialist party, said the reshuffle would not solve any of Greece's problems.
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