Papoulias

Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis was meeting with deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos at 10 a.m. on Wednesday to discuss the apparent deadlock in ongoing negotiations between the Greek government and troika representatives.

A teleconference between troika and Greek government officials on Tuesday led to the lenders’ estimate for next year’s fiscal gap being reduced but not to the point where the two sides are in full agreement over the content of the 2015 budget, which is due to be submitted to Parliament this week.

The Independent Greeks parliamentary group on Tuesday backed the party’s decision not to support any candidate to succeed President Karolos Papoulias in February’s election, regardless of who the nominee is.

It is very important that the Greek Parliament manages to elect a new president to succeed Karolos Papoulias so snap national elections can be avoided and a ballot date can be set for next autumn.

For all that to happen, the country must first wrap up negotiations with its international lenders and make sure that its economic performance continues to improve.

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.

Greek President Karolos Papoulias on Thursday expressed his hope that the current Parliament would elect his successor and avoid leading the country to an early election. The president’s comments came during a meeting with the leader of To Potami, Stavros Theodorakis, at the Presidential Mansion.

Panos Kammenos, leader of the right-wing anti-bailout Independent Greeks party, has called for Karolos Papoulias to quit as President and open the way for early elections.

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.

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.