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.

“As Greece struggles to form a government, many in Europe are resigned to its exit from the eurozone, which they claim may be better than years of harsh austerity. There also seems to be a growing feeling that Europe is now strong enough to contain contagion from a Greek exit. In fact, we believe a Greek exit would be an economic and political catastrophe. It is far from certain that the current EFSF/ESM framework will be able to prevent contagion or deal with a bank run in Italy or Spain. A Greek exit could trigger a break-up of the eurozone, which would in turn lead to a deep recession and a new global financial crisis. A Greek exit would also destroy Europe’s soft power and irreversibly damage its standing in the world.

We therefore appeal to European policymakers to give Greece a way to return to a sustainable growth trajectory within the eurozone. It has become evident that the course of extreme austerity without compromises can only lead to economic failure. Policymakers must find a compromise in which Greece brings its public finances in order in exchange for more time to reduce its deficit and to pay back bilateral and multilateral loans. The interest rates Greece pays to its European partners should be cut. This could potentially be linked to progress on clearly defined reforms. This would give the Greek people hope that they will be able to return to economic growth while underlining their own responsibility to deliver on necessary reform. Both sides will have to make sacrifices, but we believe that the idea of a prosperous Europe is worth it.”