Politics of Europe

The Christian Liberal Alliance (ACL, Opposition, made up of National Liberal Party - PNL and Democratic Liberal Party - PDL) will introduce a motion of no confidence in the coming session of the Parliament, PNL leader and ACL presidential candidate Klaus Iohannis announced in a press conference on Sunday.

Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini was appointed on Saturday as the European Union’s new foreign policy chief.

European leaders also chose Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk as the new President of the European Council, the current President Herman Van Rompuy announced in tweets at the EU summit in Brussels.

As the government seeks to play down rumors about its choice of candidate for president, with the term of incumbent Karolos Papoulias set to end in February, Democratic Left (DIMAR) leader Fotis Kouvelis rebuffed rumors that he has been approached but did not explicitly rule out in his interest in the role.

A protocol setting up a political alliance of the People's Movement Party (PMP) and the Christian Democratic National Peasant Party (PNTCD, a non-parliamentary party) and another protocol supporting the PMP candidate for President of Romania in this November's elections were signed by the two party leaders, Elena Udrea and Aurelian Pavelescu respectively, on Saturday.

EU leaders meet in Brussels on Saturday afternoon to decide who will be the next President of the European Council and EU’s foreign policy chief.

A parliamentary group comprising 15 independent lawmakers asked member Nikos Nikolopoulos to resign Friday over his homophobic tweet concerning the Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel.

A government jet carrying Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos back to Athens from Ankara where he had attended the inauguration ceremony of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was forced to conduct an emergency landing in Thessaloniki on Friday due to a technical problem.

With just a few days to go before crucial talks in Paris with the troika, Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis launched a series of meetings with key cabinet colleagues on Friday in a bid to hammer out the details of the Greek delegation's negotiating positions.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has been engaged in a flurry of diplomacy, Kathimerini understands, ahead of a crucial European Union leaders summit in Brussels Saturday as well as next week’s talks in Paris between Greek government officials and troika representatives.

 Education, Administrative Reform ministry sources say pledges will be honored

Government officials on Thursday sought to play down a rift between Education Minister Andreas Loverdos and Administrative Development Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis over the possible firing of administrative staff at universities as part of a civil service overhaul demanded by the troika.