Marina Economides
Kornelios Korneliou, the director general of the Foreign Ministry, will step down on Monday and be succeeded by the head of the President's Diplomatic Office, Kyriakos Kouros. Korneliou will move to the Israeli embassy in June, but the summary procedure in which the foreign minister asked to leave the post of director general immediately and not to return until his move to Tel Aviv in June created a stir in diplomatic circles.
K had previously reported that changes in the diplomatic corps were to be expected, specifically that the current director general of the Foreign Ministry, Kornelios Korneliou, would not remain in that position. The report also stated that the rumored scenario of him taking over the Athens embassy did not exist. The main reason was disagreements with Nikos Christodoulides during his tenure as Foreign Minister. According to senior government sources, Korneliou demonstrated his inability to work with the President. Diplomatic circles, on the other hand, see Korneliou's relocation as a form of retaliation, not only for the relocation but also for his abrupt departure from the ministry's management.
Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos, according to K's sources, made him three offers. The embassy in Dublin, the embassy in Tel Aviv, and the possibility of serving as second in command at the Foreign Ministry, which would be a step down.
Korneliou will take over at the embassy in Tel Aviv in June and will be succeeded on Monday by Kyriakos Kouros, who will apparently not move to the embassy in London as previously planned but may have general direction of the ministry and be head of the President's Diplomatic Office at the same time.
[This article was translated from its Greek original]
