Antonis Samaras

The shelving Thursday of a legal suit against him involving Swiss drugmaker Novartis, officially ended a "brazen procedure of slander and character assassination... after a 20-month delay," Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras said.

With the shelving Thursday of a legal suit against him involving Swiss drugmaker Novartis, Greek central bank governor Yannis Stournaras said that a "brazen procedure of slander and character assassination" had officially come to an end "after a 20-month delay."

Greece's top corruption prosecutor Eleni Touloupaki on Thursday shelved a legal suit lodged against central bank governor Yannis Stournaras over bribery claims involving Swiss drugmaker Novartis.

Greek corruption prosecutors on Tuesday shelved a part of the investigation into the alleged bribery case involving Swiss drugmaker Novartis which concerns former conservative prime minister Antonis Samaras, after no evidence was found to support the accusations.

Former culture and tourism official Angela Gerekou has been appointed to head the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO), Minister Haris Theoharis announced on Thursday.

Her "experience and knowledge on tourism-related issues will contribute to shaping a modern GNTO, adapted to current conditions," Theoharis said.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' conservative government won a vote of confidence Monday following a three-day debate on the administration's policy statements.
A total of 158 MPs backed his government while 142 voted against it.

Veteran New Democracy MP (representing the district of Ioannina) Konstantinos Tasoulas has been elected Parliament Speaker with an unprecedented 283 votes in the 300-seat legislature.

Tasoulas was supported by five of the legislature's six parties (New Democracy, SYRIZA, Movement for Change, Elliniki Lysi, and MeRa 25).

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is this week to meet with his two conservative predecessors, Antonis Samaras and Costas Karamanlis.

The meeting with Samaras is to be held in Mitsotakis' office in Parliament at 6 p.m. on Monday and that with Karamanlis is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

Newly-appointed Labour and Social Affairs Minister Nikos Vroutsis has rescinded an encyclical signed by three SYRIZA ministers on 20 June, a bit over two weeks before the general election, which simplified procedures for the issuance of the AMKA social security number for  non-EU nationals and in particular for migrants, asylum seekers, and unaccompanied refugee children.

Christos Staikouras, a former alternate economy minister under ND PM Antonis Samaras, will be Greece's new finance minister in the cabinet of incoming PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis, which was announced late this afternoon, less than 24 hours afte Mitsotakis' landslide victory, and veteran connservative MP Nilos Dendias will be Greece's new foreign minister.