Hellenic Parliament

The Greek Parliament approved the budget for 2015 in a vote early on Monday, following a five-day debate.

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A committee of New Democracy MPs asked by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to propose changes to the Greek Constitution suggested Tuesday that the number of lawmakers in Parliament should be reduced from 300 to 200 and that the president of the republic should be given greater powers.

The election of the president by popular mandate, the abolition of MPs' immunity from prosecution and the reduction of the number of deputies serving in Parliament are but some of the proposals put together by a New Democracy committee for constitutional reform.

Parliament’s budget for next year has been reduced by almost 2 million euros to 139.9 million, according to a draft unveiled on Monday.

Of the total amount, 20.5 million euros is for MPs’ pay.

Total lawmakers’ income is largely unchanged from this year’s budget, with only their bonuses being reduced by 200,000 euros.

The Greek Parliament on Wednesday approved legislation paving the way for the part-privatization of the Public Power Corporation (PPC) but opposition parties did not give up their efforts to force a discussion about a referendum on the sale.

BELGRADE - Serbia's Minister of Culture and Information Ivan Tasovac on Wednesday backed the establishment of a parliamentary television channel that would contribute to keeping the citizens well-informed, but noted that the technical capabilities and the funding required are in doubt.

According to the final results of the May 25 elections for the European Parliament that came out last week, Golden Dawn (GD) became the third strongest Greek party among the European deputies attracting more than half a million votes and nearly 10% of the national vote. Hence it sent three out of a total of 21 deputies to the new European Parliament.

PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos has labelled “unconstitutional” a request by SYRIZA chief Alexis Tsipras for early general elections.

Venizelos held a news conference shortly after Tsipras met with President Karolos Papoulias, where he suggested that the government lacked the legitimacy to continue. Tsipras called for national elections “as soon as possible.”

PASOK and New Democracy were at odds on Monday over the conservative party’s plan to announce proposals for a review of the Greek Constitution.