Nikos Filis

The planned referendum to change the name of SYRIZA has reportedly become a source of acrimony within the leftist party as it is opposed by its more radical wing.

A tense debate is expected in Parliament on Thursday ahead of a vote on a contentious Education Ministry bill that would allow graduates of education faculties belonging to private colleges - that operate in Greece as branches of foreign universities and colleges - the right to apply for positions at Greek schools. 

Former education minister Nikos Filis criticized a ruling by the Council of State that deemed as unconstitutional reforms to religion classes at schools introduced by him and his successor in 2017.

Main opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he will table a no confidence motion next week against Alternate Health Minister Pavlos Polakis, who denounced a New Democracy European Parliament candidate because the latter, who is paraplegic, had been hired as a National Health service doctor under a procedure in which the applicant's disability is taken into account in the hiring point system

Alternate Health Minister Pavlos Polakis' aspersions against an opposition candidate in the upcoming European elections do not represent ruling "SYRIZA's ethos," an influential lawmaker with the leftist party said on Tuesday.

Religion and physical education classes will remain compulsory for senior high school pupils according to new rules introduced by the Education Ministry.

However, history, ancient Greek, maths and physics have been scrapped as compulsory lessons.

A few dozen members of a crowd gathered outside the historic Athens Polytechnic building to mark the November 17 anniversary of a 1973 student uprising against Greece's military dictatorship lashed out a group of leftist government officials who came to pay their respects at a memorial to the movement's victims on Friday morning.

Ahead of the upcoming review of Greece's Constitution, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will have to walk a tightrope as he seeks to strike a delicate balance between the views of his leftist SYRIZA party and those of the junior coalition partner, Independent Greeks (ANEL), on a string of issues. 

The Council of State on Tuesday deemed unconstitutional a set of changes introduced by former education minister Nikos Filis to the way religion is taught at the country's public schools, in a bid to introduce greater separation between church and state.

Interior Minister Panos Skourletis says that the decision to sell missiles and bombs to Saudi Arabia was not a good idea as they may be used in Yemen, echoing sentiments expressed by other lawmakers of the ruling party.