Meanwhile, after meeting yesterday afternoon, Evangelos Venizelos and Fotis Kouvelis – who lead the two smaller parties in the government – have stated that they will not attend the summit. According to media reports, Kouvelis said the coalition party leaders will go to Brussels to try to win concessions from European partners over a bailout package as soon as Samaras recovers from eye surgery. “We have agreed, as soon as the prime minister has recovered, to go together to Brussels… in order to negotiate and fight for everything that is related to the implementation of what has been agreed,” the Democratic Left leader told reporters, according to Kathimerini.

Meanwhile, Prime minister’s office announced that National Bank of Greece chief Vasilis Rapanos would not be assuming the position of Finance Minister. In a letter to Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, Rapanos has turned down the position of finance minister in the new coalition government, citing health reasons. “The recent incident that led me to being hospitalized indicated that my health problem has not been overcome,” Rapanos said in his letter, ANA writes. “Following discussions that I had with my doctors, I have concluded that the condition of my health, for the time being, is not what it should be in order to fulfil my duties adequately.” Samaras responded by accepting Rapanos’s decision and wishing him a quick recovery.

According to Kathimerini, Samaras is due to meet the leaders of the other two parties in his coalition government later today to discuss who could fill the role of finance minister. Since last night, the names of ND VP and former EU Commissioner Stavros Dimas and Former PASOK Minister Alekos Papadopoulos are under discussion for the job, according to the media.

According to protothema.gr, ND leader Antonis Samaras agreed, stating that the “personalities” must be politicians. Evangelos Venizelos also agreed while Fotis Kouvelis once more argued that the participation of SYRIZA should be considered a condition for any further move. Thus it was agreed a new meeting to be held, involving other leftist parties.

The President of the Republic called all leaders, except Golden Dawn’s, to a new meeting today at 14:00 at the Presidential mansion with SYRIZA leader accepting the invitation.

Shortly after yesterday’s meeting, ND leader Antonis Samaras stated that he asked President Papoulias the proposal submitted by the leader of Independent Greeks Panos Kammenos be explored, which was based on a coalition government with seven priorities, ANA reported.

On his part, PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos stated: “we support, as a last resort, a government of personalities”.  He identified a minimum government support of such an effort by ND, SYRIZA, PASOK and Democratic Left. He said that he is not optimistic and underlined that there must be a new meeting today since all parties are responsible, according to Ta Nea.

Finally, Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis was the least enthusiastic about the prospect of such a government being formed, insisting that an administration made up of as many parties as possible was a better option. “This is a defeat for politics,” he said.

Meanwhile a new poll by Rass for Eleftheros Typos newspaper, showed SYRIZA to have inched forward to 20.5 percent, pushing New Democracy into second place at 19.4 percent. PASOK, which gathered 13 percent in the elections, is down to 11.8%. Independent Greeks follows with 7.8%, Democratic Left 6.2%, Communist Party (KKE) 4.8%, Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn) 3.8%. According to the poll, 81.4% said they want Greece to stay in the euro area. A similar percentage (80.1 percent) of SYRIZA voters thought the same.