Cabinet reshuffle

A new Cabinet was unveiled in Iceland on 31 December. During the reshuffle former finance minister Mr Steingrímur J. Sigfússon was named Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture as well as Minister of Economic Affairs. Mrs Oddný G. Harðardóttir was promoted into Cabinet as  Minister of Finance. Mr Jón Bjarnason, Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, and Mr Árni Páll Árnason, Minister of Economic Affairs, stepped down from the Cabinet. Other ministers retained their posts.

New Cabinet of Iceland:

• Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, Prime Minister.
• Steingrímur J. Sigfússon, Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture and Minister of Economic Affairs.
• Össur Skarphéðinsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs.
• Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Minister of Education, Science and Culture.
• Katrín Júlíusdóttir, Minister of Industry Energy and Tourism.
• Svandís Svavarsdóttir, Minister for the Environment.
• Ögmundur Jónasson, Minister of the Interior.
• Guðbjartur Hannesson, Minister of Welfare.
• Oddný G. Harðardóttir, Minister of Finance.

With the new cabinet in place, Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir said: „The new cabinet marks the positive turning point that women now outnumber men in the government for the first time and a woman has also been appointed finance minister for the first time in Iceland. It gives me particular pleasure to end the year 2011 by achieving this important milestone for gender equality in Iceland.”