Movement for Change

The head of the parliamentary committee investigating the case of former cabinet minister Dimitris Papangelopoulos has asked for the forced presence of the hitherto protected witness known by the name Maximos Sarafis as he failed to present himself on Tuesday afternoon at the hearing scheduled at the Athens police headquarters.

The head of the MeRA 25 party and former finance minister Yannis Varoufakis has sent a letter to the leaders of Greece's left and center-left opposition calling for alternative proposals to the center-right government's plan for clearing non-performing loans.

The center-left Movement for Change coalition (KINAL) has attacked Greece's conservative government saying that its poor handling of the migration crisis is responsible for the escalating tension on the eastern Aegean islands.

Six in 10 Greeks have a positive view of the choice of Katerina Sakellaropoulou as Greece's new president, according to an opinion poll by Pulse for Skai.
The survey showed New Democracy retaining a lead of 12.5 percentage points over SYRIZA, with 38 percent backing the ruling conservatives over 25.5 percent for the leftist opposition.

Top judge Katerina Sakellaropoulou was comfortably elected Greece's first female president on Wednesday, wining the support of 261 out of 294 MPs present in Parliament. 

The 63-year-old president of the Council of State will replace incumbent Prokopis Pavlopoulos, whose five-year term ends in mid-March.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' nomination for Greece's next president, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, was not based on partisan criteria (nor was it driven by inner-party concerns, for that matter).

The prime minister's decision to nominate Ekaterini Sakellaropoulou to serve as President of the Hellenic Republic did not startle those in the know.

For months most had known that Mr. Mitsotakis had singled out the chief justice of the Council of State and had included her in the pool of candidates for the highest office in the land.

The center-left Movement for Change (KINAL) alliance has endorsed Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis's presidential nominee.
KINAL chief Fofi Gennimata said that the nomination of Katerina Sakellaropoulou fulfilled "essential" criteria set by the party.

It is expected to be a matter of days before Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reveals his proposed nominee for the country's next president, with sources indicating that an announcement may follow the submission of the conservative government's new electoral law in Parliament this week.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will complete on Monday a briefing of opposition leaders on the results of his recent trip to the United States, with a meeting with Dimitris Koutsoumbas of the Greek Communist Party (KKE).