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The two main political opponents who have been replacing each other at the helm of Greece over the past 35 years will now govern together.

The final agreement between the leaders of New Democracy and PASOK was reached in the late afternoon. Evangelos Venizelos had arrived at the Prime Minister's Maximou residence at 6:30 pm and left it in high spirits just a little over an hour later.

The composition of the new cabinet was announced two hours later. According to journalistic sources, there were hot debates on the allocation of the ministerial seats. One reason for this was the refusal of Dimitris Avramopoulos, former Foreign Minister, to leave the post of Deputy Prime Minister.

However, the expectations of recent days have materialized and PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos, who is also taking over the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has assumed the post.

There are 43 ministers and deputy ministers in total in the new cabinet, which has been the smallest in number for years.

Minister of Economy Yiannis Stournaras, Minister of Public Order and Citizen Protection Nikos Dendias, Minister of Education Konstantinos Arvanitopoulous, Minister of Tourism Olga Kefalogiannis, Minister of Development Kostis Hatzidakis, Minister of Agriculture Athanassios Tsavtaris and Minister of Employment Yiannis Vroutsis whose work over the last year has been appreciated have kept their seats.

Representatives of New Democracy have headed the pivotal ministries. Kyriakos Mitsotakis has been appointed Minister of Administrative Reform, who is undertaking to complete the task of government layoffs. Yiannis Michelakis has replaced Euripidis Stilianidis as the head of the Interior Ministry, as Antonis Samaras considers that he has been unable to control the costs of municipalities and local administrations.

After a pause of several years, Dimitris Avramopoulos has returned to the Ministry of Defence whereas former Minister Panos Panagiotopoulous has been transferred to the Ministry of Culture and Sports, which is to be re-established. Other new members of New Democracy are the Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis and Minister of Justice Charalambous Athanasiou. Simos Kedikoglou will continue to be a government spokesman but he has been appointed Deputy Minister of Education too. Miltiadis Varvitsiotis has taken the post of Minister of Merchant Marine.

The ministers of PASOK are only three in number: Michalis Chrisochoidis has been appointed Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Yiannis Maniatis - Minister of Energy, Environment and Climate Change, and Pantelis Capsis is taking over the post of Deputy Minister in charge of the reorganization of the state radio and television broadcaster after the closure of ERT. Other members of PASOK have been appointed deputy ministers.

Through the formation of the new cabinet, the two coalition partners aim to drive the implementation of the urgent reforms to tackle the debt crisis and economic recovery of the country. After the withdrawal of Democratic Left, the government will have the support of 153 of 300 deputies in parliament. However, it is expected that their former partner and independent deputies will support the vote on strict austerity measures.

The new government will be sworn in on Tuesday at 12:30 pm.