Karolos Papoulias

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will visit Athens in December to hold talks with Greek Premier Antonis Samaras, it was announced on Monday.

Greek President Karolos Papoulias on Thursday made his most outspoken comment yet on speculation about whether the current parliament will be able to elect his successor, suggesting that he believes it is in the country’s interest for early elections to be avoided.

Stavros Theodorakis, leader of the centrist To Potami party, will on Thursday meet with the country's President Karolos Papoulias, the party has said in a tweet.

The Greek government felt encouraged Tuesday by European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici (photo) pointing to the December 8 Eurogroup as a key date for deciding how Greece’s relationship with the troika should evolve.

Fotis Kouvelis, the chief of Democratic Left, a small party that bowed out the coalition government last year over a row concerning the closure of state broadcaster ERT, met with Karolos Papoulias on Tuesday, becoming the third party leader to meet with the outgoing president after visits on Monday by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and SYRIZA opposition leader Alexis Tsipras.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Monday rejected calls by leftist SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras for snap polls, accusing the opposition chief of seeking to destabilize the country amid the first signs of recovery, and expressing his conviction that Parliament will elect a president early next year despite the odds.

SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras called on the government on Monday to hold snap elections, before Parliament is due to vote for a new president of the republic in February.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras are due to hold separate meetings with Greek President Karolos Papoulias on Monday.

Tsipras is due to meet Papoulias in the early afternoon, while Samaras will go to the presidential mansion later in the day.

A meeting between Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Deputy Premier Evangelos Venizelos on Wednesday resulted in the coalition leaders agreeing that Greece should try to build up to an agreement with its lenders by the December 8 Eurogroup to exit its bailout.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras appealed for political consensus so that Parliament can elect a president early next year and avert the risk of snap general elections in an article in Sunday’s Kathimerini.