The cabinet reshuffle comes two days after junior coalition Democratic Left partner pulled out in protest over the sudden closure of state broadcaster ERT, downsizing the ruling majority in parliament.

According to an announcement by government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras kept his post in the cabinet reshuffle while socialist PASOK party Evangelos Venizelos assumed the posts of deputy prime minister and foreign minister. Outgoing foreign minister Dimitris Avramopoulos  assumed the post of Minister of Defense.

The two-party coalition government now has a slender majority in parliament; it controls 153 seats of the 300 seats.

The number of ministries in Samaras’ cabinet was increased from 17 to 19.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras sparked a crisis when he decided to abruptly shut down state broadcaster ERT on June 11, which is part of the Greek government’s unpopular austerity measures.

Meanwhile, the nearly 2,700 suspended staff at ERT have continued demonstrations in front of the main broadcaster center in Athens and offices in the northern port city of Thessaloniki.

The Greek government claimed ERT had become a haven of waste. ERT began broadcasting in 1938, running three domestic TV channels, four national radio stations, as well as regional radio stations and an external service, Voice of Greece.

The new cabinet is due to be sworn in Tuesday morning by President Karolos Papoulias during a ceremony at the presidential palace.

The meeting between the three leaders is rather important, despite the government downplaying it as a routine meeting, tovima.gr writes. Both Venizelos and Kouvelis have been demanding they have a greater influence on the way the government operates, to remind Samaras that New Democracy is not governing on its own.

PASOK and DIMAR officers have openly criticized the government for failing to inform them on decisions being made. The Prime Minister will likely pursue some sort of compromise and truce, in order to find a golden balance that will maintain the calm atmosphere that is necessary to push forward the reforms.

The government leaders will also discuss the goals of the government and the action plan to prepare for the troika visit in the summer, such as the tax bill, dismissals from the public sector, deregulations, privatizations etc. Experienced government officers claim that despite the distance of opinion, the government’s cohesion and determination are not at risk.

The International Monetary Fund will send a team to Greece early next month for talks with Greek authorities and the IMF’s bailout partners, following a meeting of the IMF executive board to discuss a review of Greece’s programme, the IMF said.

“The executive board is expected to meet [this] week, Friday, May 31, to discussion the completion of the third review of Greece’s programme,” IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters during a regular press briefing in Washington.

“A staff team will start discussions in Athens with the Greek authorities and our European partners on June 4. These discussions are expected to last about two weeks and Poul Thomsen will be leading the mission,” the spokesman said.

Government sources told journalists that in his meeting with troika tomorrow [Mar 7], Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will move under the logic that “we continue to negotiate on whatever is not working.” PM’s office stresses the prime minister will tell the lenders’ representatives that there can be no further austerity measures, insisting on strengthening the country’s development prospects by targeting investment and employment growth.

Government sources told protothema.gr that the coming months will be crucial for the future of the austerity programme as the country is at a crossroads and troika must stop pushing things further, since the Greek society will not be able to bear the pressure.

The main remain that of the VAT reduction in catering and the excise tax on fuel that has sent its price soaring and consumption on a downward path.

Regarding the issue of redundancies in the public sector, Samaras will insist on promoting the government’s programme of availability, considering that beyond any social unrest that can be caused by a wave of layoffs, there will be a question of social stability, if one takes into account the reactions of the other two governmental partners.

The economic team will also present arrangements to relieve the indebted households and a programme to transfer funds in order to support and relief the unemployed.

Troika people meet today with Yannis Stournaras, and tomorrow, they will be received by PM Samaras. The meetings are expected to be completed by Sunday [Mar 10], when troika will leave to prepare its evaluation report.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is set to decide in the coming days on whether to reshuffle the Cabinet after PASOK leader and coalition partner Evangelos Venizelos, declared that he was ready to put active Socialist politicians in the government, Kathimerini writes.

However, Greek government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou said there was no truth to reports that Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was planning to change the ministers in his government.

“There is no issue at all of a reshuffle, period,” Kedikoglou said in an e-mailed statement, Bloomberg reported.

The multi-bill was voted shortly after midnight yesterday, with 153 ‘yes’, 128 ‘no’, while 18 MPs kept a neutral stance, voting ‘present’. One MP abstained from the vote.

The vote, however, came at a cost for the coalition as it lost several MPs, Kathimerini writes. PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos ejected six lawmakers from his party for voting against the package. This included former minister Costas Skandalidis, who was rumored to be mounting a leadership challenge. The move reduces the number of PASOK lawmakers to 27. One MP was ejected from New Democracy, reducing the conservative party’s tally of deputies to 126.

Coalition party Democratic left MPs voted ‘present’ yesterday; the party said it would back the 2013 budget in a vote on Sunday. Parliament will vote again on the 2013 budget, which provides

Addressing Parliament a few hours before the vote, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras appealed to MPs to back the package, noting that Greece’s future in the Eurozone was at stake, Kathimerini writes. “Today we are voting on whether we stay in euro or we return to isolation,” he said. Samaras admitted that cuts to salaries and pensions were unfair but insisted that they would be the last and any “future adjustments” would be limited to curbing tax evasion and waste. He said the changes being pursued by his government constituted “a revolution.”

PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos struck a similar note, saying that Greece had two options. “One is dramatically difficult, the other total disaster,” he said. The Socialist leader lashed out at the leader of main opposition, accusing him of “investing in the country’s political death” by calling for new elections.

SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras repeated demands for snap polls, noting that the coalition had reneged on its promises. Tsipras said the government’s efforts to secure an extension for fiscal adjustment were redundant. “The only extension we need is for the rope with which we will hang ourselves.”

Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis defended his party’s opposition to changes to labour laws. “Some insist that labour reforms are a secondary issue. That is not so. Labor laws are a road map for Greece after the crisis.” “We don’t want to be part of rebuilding the country after a collapse,” he said.

Between 70,000 and 100,000 people gathered outside Parliament from about 6 p.m. to protest ahead of the vote. The peaceful protest was broken up later when rioters clashed with police. Molotov cocktails were thrown and officers responded with tear gas and water cannons.

Democratic Left yesterday said it will not support the labour market reforms demanded by the country’s foreign lenders. “The unacceptable demands by the troika will not yield any fiscal benefit, they will only lead to further rise in

unemployment,” Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis said after a two-hour meeting with the Prime Minister and PASOK leader.

Venizelos also expressed reluctance to back the measures. “It is unjustified and provocative that the issue of labour reforms should be brought up now,” he stated, who said the changes would not contribute toward Greece meetings its fiscal targets.

Following the meeting, in a dramatic message to Greek people, Antonis Samaras argued: “The negotiation continues, I will not back down… I know very well what is at stake today for the country. For three months now, every day, we are changing the image of Greece. And we are negotiating under the most difficult circumstances to get the country out of the recession.

We already have changed many original proposals by troika on labour and other issues as well. And he negotiation continues. The only criterion for me is Greece and its future. I will not back down on this responsibility. And I do not want to think what would happen if I do not keep my hands firmly on the wheel. I look only forward, seeking the greatest possible unity. Greece will be saved by those of us who will dare.”

Sources say the Prime Minister said that the final deadline for agreement amongst political parties should be reached by Thursday.

Finally, late yesterday evening, in informal briefings towards the media, Kouvelis’ associates confirmed Democratic Left’s support to the coalition government.

The meeting comes as tens of thousands of protestors shouting “enough is enough” took part in trade union rallies and marches organised in central Athens yesterday, as part of a 24-hour nationwide strike in protest against a new package of austerity measures.

According to Mega channel, if the package of measures is approved today in the meeting between Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Evangelos Venizelos and Fotis Kouvelis, an announcement should be expected by Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras early next week. Then the Premier will address Greeks through a televised message to explain that this is the last action in the austerity front and that the government will put a great effort to ensure a fair tax system and to receive the next installment of the bailout agreement.

According to protothema.gr, the government is now facing the new conditions created by the disagreement between the EU and the IMF about the debt crisis in the Eurozone and the Greek case. PM Antonis Samaras believes that time is against our country and seeks an agreement with his coalition partnerns in today’s meeting.

The possibility the disbursement of the next tranche of EUR 31.5 billion to be postponed for the end of November seems a nightmare. Samaras insists that the decision for disbursement should be made before the EU Summit on 18 October and then an urgent Eurogroup should convene for remaining details. The Premier wants to avoid the disbursement of the tranche to enter the debate between the EU and the IMF as regards tackling the crisis in the Eurozone and the sustainability of the Greek debt. The IMF insists that the Greek debt is unsustainable and requires its further restructuring with some significant additional funding.

Meawhile, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras briefed PASOK and DIMAR yesterday on the content of the package. Stournaras is planning to implement EUR 7.5 billion of cuts next year, with the rest coming in 2014 or spread over a longer period if Greece is granted an extension to its consolidation period, Kathimerini writes.

DIMAR’s economic policy spokesman Dimitris Chatzisokratis said that his party objected to some of the measures in the package, such as the civil service sackings and raising the minimum number of working years needed for retirement from 15 to 20. The leftist party is also concerned at plans to cut farmers’ low-level pensions by 30 euros per month. DIMAR’s opposition means that it is unlikely that the coalition leaders will agree on the final version of the package today, according to the paper.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and his coalition partners Evangelos Venizelos and Fotis Kouvelis meet today at 1 p.m. Samaras is to seek to forge a common line with his coalition partners on the measures before traveling to Rome for a three-day official visit. FinMin Stournaras, who is to stay in Athens and continue talks with the troika, has said he hopes for a final agreement on the measures by Sunday.

Yesterday, the tension was evident in the coalition, when PASOK and Democratic Left leaders complained that they have never been informed about the government’s package of measures in detail by anyone in the economic team. PASOK said that they have been informed in detail only for the measures of EUR 5 billion. Democratic Left admitted that they were asked to participate in the troika negotiations but refused, adding that they have made a number of proposals over the summer achieving the equivalent measures.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras met again yesterday afternoon with the troika head representatives in an on-going effort to finalise the EUR 11.5-billion austerity package. According to NET state television, a list of harsh measures “were back on the table” including reductions to low-level pensions, raising of the retirement age and further cutbacks to state administrative costs.

Finance ministry sources told protothema.gr the measures for EUR 2 billion that have been finalised and covered a part of the financial gap of EUR 4 billion, came from cuts in Health, Defense and local authorities. “There is still the tough core”, sources he told reporters, meaning the extra measures of EUR 2 billion that are being examined and will be for salaries and pensions.

According to Protothem.gr, troika is now pressing so the EUR 9.5 billion from the EUR 11.5 billion be saved from cuts in wages and pensions, instead of the EUR 7 billion in the original plan. Officials are also discussing horizontal wage cuts to public administration, at the rate of 5%.

The government aims to save EUR 8.5 billion euros from cuts to salaries, pensions and benefits. And if they add another EUR 1 billion, expected to be collected from the increase in the retirement age from 65 to 67 years, then imposed cuts will reach EUR 9.5 billion.Reductions to pensions will start much lower, perhaps from EUR 600 in total, rather than EUR 1,000. Officials are also thinking of cutting the minimum IKA pension close to EUR 400, and re-thinking of cutting the minimum OGA pension from EUR 360 to EUR 330. It is now almost certain that the already agreed measures include the elimination of the remainder of the 13th and 14th salaries in the public sector and the elimination of the 13th and 14th pensions for all pensioners.

On the other hand, it seems that today’s coalition is -as everybody says- Greece’s last chance to stay in the Eurozone. The fear factor, which was dominant throughout the pre election period and immediately after, worked well with citizens who voted as expected, marginally avoiding the experiment with political radicalism (‘call me Alexis’), and on the other hand giving a weak victory to ND party to force it to cooperate with what is left from the old centre-left.

Later on, government spin efforts replaced fear with hope, with FinMin arguing that we need to try a little bit harder to stay under the Eurozone umbrella, at a time when Europe is about to change. True, but again, not ours. Just like Mario Draghi’s recent intervention: Europe marked it as a new starting point, markets were somehow relieved and Greeks kept trying to figure out how, and if, they were benefited. Greeks know well deep inside that a pathetic -wait and see- stance will bring the country nowhere. Salvation -or, what foreign media keep calling bailout- strategy will depend on initiatives taken from within. So, the motto we should, perhaps, stick to is that the solution “is in our hands”.

Alexis Tsipras knows well that Antonis Samaras will play the troika game, take the heat and hope for some positive results when the boat starts turning, to feed new political talk towards re-election. To reach that, Samaras’ led coalition will have to go through hell; opinion polls will make things even worse.

Alexis Tsipras knows that when the slow Greek boat starts turning, his chances to attack will be numbered. By then he hopes to have a decent political rhetoric, along with the necessary professionalism to turn a wave into government.

Tsipras also knows that Samaras’ staffers are average, cabinet members are of the past, whilst the quotas the Premier had to take in from his coalition partners seem politically helpless. However, the Premier seems determined to save face, along with the reputation of his generation.

Things do not come easy though. Nearly 100 days after the elections, the government continues to staff key positions and is still trying to figure out “equivalent measures” to avoid horizontal cuts, a political bubble that troika wishes to put to rest next to the “renegotiation” rhetoric.

For those who can view Greece from a distance, what they see is from one hand troika (EC-ECB-IMF) people moving in high gear, pushing for the only thing Greeks can accomplish (namely withhold people’s money in the source) and from the other, the leftovers of the previous political system dragged in a battle 2 out of 3 of them appear unwilling to fight. Hence the differences: Antonis seems determined to fire at the enemy before dying in the barracks, Evangelos may eventually save his life as a disgraced HQ clerk, while Fotis is about to catch a stray bullet, while wandering disoriented in no man’s land.

Despite all, the future has presented itself. After the old generation manages to reach its redemption, new politicians (of a different sort) should come forward to take it from there. And here is the most important thing Tsipras knows. If his new competition is once again old school, he will prevail; big time.

Thus, for people to gain from political competition, common sense dictates that new ‘Tsiprases’ should appear to reposition Greek politics (hopefully closer to Europe) and move the country forward. But the process is going to be bloody.

Dr. Demetris Kamaras is the Editor of AlYunaniya.com

A source told Reuters the troika felt a string of proposed measures worth about 2 billion euros, such as cutting public sector operating expenses, were too vague.

Sources told ANA, Samaras’ meeting with troika inspectors yesterday was “tough and sticky”. Finance minister Yannis Stournaras was present. He said afterwards that efforts were being made to convince the troika of the legitimacy of the government’s position.

It is understood that the details concerning the measures were not discussed. Rather, the talks focused on what is feasible and what is not feasible, with the government telling the troika that it cannot add any more austerity measures to the list it has already prepared. Sources said that the government must present a completed draft with 11.9bn euros in measures for 2012-2013 by next Friday’s Eurogroup meeting in Nicosia, Cyprus, even if there is no prior agreement with the troika and of if the measures have not been unveiled to the public.

Sources confirmed that the troika were insisting on dismissals from the civil service, including the core public sector, which the government refuses, as affirmed after Sunday night’s meeting of the leaders of the three parties participating in the coalition government, ANA writes.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras meets again tomorrow with is coalition partners Evangelos Venizelos and Fotis Kouvelis, following the Premier’s meeting with ECB chief Mario Draghi in Frankfurt.

Coalition leaders need to agree on the new austerity package, which will include mainly cuts in salaries and pensions and public spending, and should be ready by the end of the week to be presented at the informal Cyprus Eurogroup.

Yesterday, PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos met with the troika heads. After the meeting, Venizelos’ associates expressed their anxiety about the measures to be announced, namely those of EUR 2 billion rejected by the Troika. They stressed that if the measures proposed by Finance minister Yannis Stournaras are not accepted, salaries, pensions and allowances will be immediately affected, protothema.gr writes. The two “red lines” for PASOK are allowances for the disabled and horizontal cuts. They are still looking for counter measures, which in many respects coincide with those of the Democratic Left. PASOK reiterates that the discussion with the lenders had to begin from the extension of the fiscal programme and debt reduction.

Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis rejected 5 points in the package of measures: elimination of bonuses; elimination of seasonal bonuses; reduction of tax exemptions for special tax groups; increase of fares in public transport and elimination of university publications. He also analyzed in detail his own proposals for equivalent measures.

Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis said: “I am challenging for the measures to be fair, to ensure the financially weaker don’t suffer and for the measures to be part of a wider framework that would lead to growth… The recession is deep and our European partners have to realize that Greece cannot take any more. The troika has to realize that its making demands of a society that is already in pieces.”

PASOK’s Evangelos Venizelos argued: “We are concerned that the detailing of the measures should happen based on criteria of social justice and support for growth… There is no doubt about support for the government, there is however a question about support from society… My relationship with Mr. Samaras is excellent, as it is with Mr. Kouvelis. There is a question about society’s cohesiveness and the economy’s strength to survive.”

Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras had his first meeting with the troika heads yesterday afternoon to discuss the new austerity package, after their arrivals to Athens on Friday.

According to Finance Ministry sources, the troika heads “have objections to some of the measures… They want more details to understand some of the measures better,” protothema.gr writes. “This is just the start, there is a long way to go,” said the same source. According to Reuters, on their way out, Poul Thomsen (IMF) said the officials had held a “good meeting,” while Klaus Masuch (ECB) said that the troika would be working “day and night” with the government to resolve any problems.

Greece needs the troika’s approval for the austerity cuts in order to secure the disbursement of the next tranche of its EU-IMF bailout, which is worth 31.5 billion euros. The payment of the installment will also depend on the review of the Greek program that the troika officials are gathering so that eurozone decision-makers think in early October about whether to make changes to the country’s bailout.