Greek government-debt crisis

Reducing the ratio of debt-to-gross domestic product at the fastest rate in Europe, achieving higher positions in the rating agencies' scales and further reducing the cost of servicing the country's borrowing, are the three main objectives set by the financial staff for the crucial issue of managing the Greek debt.

Three members of SYRIZA's political secretariat are urging the main opposition party to join the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) political group in the European Parliament, stating that the move is a crucial component of a broader strategy aimed at positioning it as the primary representative of the progressive political space in Greece.

New Left, the party created out of a split in the main opposition SYRIZA party, will hold an organizing meeting on January 12-13.

The meeting, to be held in Athens, will draw up a founding declaration and prepare a conference, to be held in late February, where the party's governing bodies will presumably be elected.

The government refuted claims that main opposition SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis was offered a ministerial seat in the ruling New Democracy party as "science fiction."

Main opposition SYRIZA leader Stefanos Kasselakis invited the party's parliamentary group for a three-day working meeting in his holiday home on the island of Spetses.

According to the email invitation the MPs received on Wednesday, the meeting aims to plan parliamentary action for the first semester of 2024, with invitees asked to prepare and propose new pieces of legislation.

The Ministry of Infrastructure, and not the regions, will undertake the damage restoration projects in Thessaly and Evia, the two regions that were badly affected following the deadly Storms Daniel and Elias in September 2023.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday made targeted interventions in the composition of his government to enhance, as a senior official said, "its effectiveness."

More specifically, the decision to replace the political leadership of the Ministry of Citizen Protection, both minister and deputy minister, were made to bolster the conservative administration's security agenda.

In response to the recent government reshuffle, opposition parties in Greece launched criticism against the administration. Government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis announced the changes on Wednesday afternoon.

The Prime Minister decided on changes to the government structure, focusing on the Ministry of Citizen Protection

In an interview with Kathimerini, Dr Peter Schoof, the former German ambassador to Athens during the challenging period from 2014 to 2017, reflects on the recent passing of Germany's former finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, stating, "No other German politician has asked me regularly about the situation of the 'ordinary Greek' as he did."