Photo: ec.europa.eu
The meeting of newly elected Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras with European Parliament President Martin Schulz is the first of the series of talks that will be held with the representatives of EU institutions.
It has just started and, according to sources, Schultz has undertaken to send several messages to Tsipras. One of them relates to the information disseminated in the media that Greek Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos of New Democracy will leave his post to be proposed and elected a president of Greece in the upcoming presidential elections.
According to the Greek online edition euro2day.gr, Martin Schulz will express to Alexis Tsipras the desire of the European Commission for Avramopoulos not to leave its composition and for the Greek government not to propose him for president.
The media refers to its "reliable sources" in the Belgian capital, according to which Dimitris Avramopoulos is under pressure not to resign, despite his desire to become Greece’s president.
If Prime Minister Tsipras nominates him and if the Greek Parliament elects him on 13 February, the new government will have to propose another Greek Commissioner. Sources of euro2day.gr, however, state that if he or she is a representative of the radical left SYRIZA, the European Parliament will probably reject his or her candidacy. The reason for this will be the reluctance of the European Commission for a representative of the radical left to occupy the critical post of Commissioner for Migration.
According to the online edition of To Vima, the most probable candidate of SYRIZA who will replace Dimitris Avramopoulos will be Yiannis Milios, who is a representative of one of the most leftist currents in the party.
The fact that Milios did not run for MP in Sunday's elections and was not included in the economic team of the new cabinet is surprising to many commentators.
It is worth noting that the leading figures in New Democracy are closely following the intensive negotiations about the candidacy of the future president. They are even saying that if Dimitris Avramopoulos is nominated they will not comply with the party line and will vote against him.