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Newly appointed Commissioner for Migration and Internal Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos will resign this Friday from the post of Minister of Defence of Greece to take up his new duties.

The Greek media report that the discussions on who will step into his shoes involve the names of many politicians. Some scenarios do not exclude the possibility of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras occupying the ministerial post in view of the rising tension in the Mediterranean, mostly due to the attempts of Turkey to set a precedent in the Cypriot Exclusive Economic Zone.

Many commentators argue that the appointment of Samaras’ close associate Andonis Economou chief secretary of the ministry is moving precisely in this direction. He is considered both a trusted associate of the Prime Minister and continuer of the policy of Dimitris Avramopoulos.

It is possible that the change in the leadership of the Ministry of Defence will be accompanied by a cabinet reshuffle. As GRReporter has already reported three members of the Council of Ministers will probably be replaced, namely government spokesman Sofia Voultepsi, Minister of the Interior Argyris Dinopoulos and Deputy Minister of Development Gerasimos Yiakoumatos.

Sources of the online edition iefimerida.gr claim that Antonis Samaras has received a proposal to appoint the former MEP and spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the last independent government of New Democracy, George Koumoutsakos, as government spokesman.

Meanwhile, the budget service of the Greek Parliament stated in its report for the quarter July- September 2014 that Greece still has no national programme for the period after the expiry of the memorandum of economic aid at the end of the year.

The report's authors stress that it is the last of those countries that have received support from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, which continues to negotiate on various topics without a clear plan for "tomorrow".

"So far, all statements for the period after the expiry of the memorandum have been repeating general objectives such as competitiveness, economic extraversion and more without offering the application of specific measures" ... "The Greek government is once again negotiating not on the economic policy conditions (that are described in the agreed consolidation programme, i.e. in the second "memorandum") but on how and to what extent they can be applied, changed or repealed. Even seemingly painful measures such as the census of employees in the public sector or the calculation of the economic consequences of the implementation of other measures are being applied under external pressure from creditors," reads the report and its authors add, "The continuous negotiation on major and minor issues has revealed the problems in the formal and informal governance institutions."

The recommendations of the service for Greece’s economic policy framework include "fewer budget cuts, more and deeper reforms, plus European solidarity."