Christoforos Vernardakis

A Facebook post by Alternate Minister of Administrative Reform, Christophoros Vernardakis on his personal page that the leftist SYRIZA-led Greek government was effectively segregating Greek citizens on social media according to their political beliefs, has raised serious questions about the freedom to adopt and express one’s political ideology.

There is a huge gap between the views in Athens and Brussels regarding how to utilize the excess primary surplus that is expected in the 2017 state budget.

State Minister Christoforos Vernardakis said Tuesday that 1 million citizens will receive 1,000 euros each, but the European Commission would be vehemently opposed to such a move - as would some cabinet members too.

With European officials now publicly acknowledging that Thursday's Eurogroup will produce no concrete result for Greece, the government has shifted its attention back to domestic concerns, hoping to convince citizens that it is doing all it can to ease the impact of austerity on their daily lives.

Just a few days after Minister of State Christoforos Vernardakis heralded 10,000 new permanent hirings to the Greek civil service, sources at the Administrative Reform Ministry have ruled out the prospect of staff on short-term contracts being granted permanent status in line with Vernardakis's pledges.

The government plans to introduce an amendment that will allow thousands of municipal contract workers to be hired on a permanent basis via the Supreme Council for Civil Personnel Selection (ASEP), Minister of State Christoforos Vernardakis said in an interview Monday.

Christoforos Vernardakis's job title is alternate minister for administrative reform. So far, however, there is little evidence to support his performance in the crucial task of streamlining Greece's administrative apparatus.

The first meeting between the representatives of Greece’s lenders and the Greek government is concluded.

The ‘Quartet’ will receive Greece’s proposal on the new tax bill tomorrow since it seems that issue was also added in the prior actions for the successful completion of the evaluation.

Popular Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) lawmaker Gabriel Sakellaridis announced his resignation on Thursday, choosing to resign rather than vote against his party after a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, his friend.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has asked for the resignation of economist Gabriel Sakellaridis, one of the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) heavyweights. Since January 2015, Sakellaridis has been the Deputy Minister to the PM and served as government spokesperson in the previous SYRIZA cabinet.

Alternate Minister for Administrative Reform Christoforos Vernardakis announced government plans to introduce a new system for the evaluation and mobility of public servants, establish the National Register for managers and a selection system for supervisors based on merit and to reduce the administrative burden.