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Shortly before the holidays and just a month after the formation of the government of Lucas Papademos, Greece will end up once again with a new cabinet.

The news that a repair in the composition of the Council of Ministers is expected came shortly before the meeting of the Greek Prime Minister with PASOK Chairman George Papandreou. According to initial information, the new team will be significantly smaller in order for it not to operate as cumbersomely as at present.

Lucas Papademos met yesterday with George Karatzaferis - Chairman of the third partner in the government coalition. In his subsequent statements, the LAOS’ leader supported the changes in the cabinet and the extension of its mandate to the end of the mandate of the previous government, i.e. to 2013.

The plans of the Prime Minister are expected to meet with resistance from New Democracy. Still last night, the leader of the "blue" Antonis Samaras firmly replied to Lucas Papademos’ close collaborators regarding their statements on extending the mandate of the cabinet by saying that, the only possible solution is to hold elections in two months.

It is difficult for the Greek government to work in harmony, and this was very clearly demonstrated during yesterday's meeting of the Council of Ministers, where the ministers criticised the failure of the labour reserve. Despite the commitment that it will include 35,000 civil servants by the end of the year, they actually do not exceed 10 000 which is expected to lead to immediate dismissals in the public sector. And this is just one of the controversial points among the cabinet members, who are so different from every point of view.

At the same time, Antonis Samaras is particularly angered by "the organized efforts against the conduction of elections" by associates of Lucas Papademos and PASOK ministers. They said from the headquarters of New Democracy that the Chairman of the party will respond very strongly if signs for postponing the elections after the agreed date 19 February 2012 appear.

The "blue" think, and not without reason, that, the processes, running inside PASOK on the nominations and election of the new party leader, have a direct influence on the cabinet. According to some sources, Minister of Finance Evangelos Venizelos is likely to withdraw from his position so as not to take upon himself the entire burden of the austerity measures that are expected to be imposed in January, thus loosing points compared with his internal party opponents. Associates of Minister of Health Andreas Loverdos did say that he was not inclined to leave his ministerial chair. Focusing on the third, unofficial candidate so far - Minister of Education Anna Diamantopoulou, sources indicated that she supports ministerial resignations from all contenders for PASOK leadership.

It is only certain in the current situation that a new political thriller may take place around the holidays in Greece. It seems that unless George Papandreou clarifies his position and the party from which there are 35 of the 49 ministers in the present cabinet is shattered by inner intrigue, the reforms will continue to hang in the air, the Greeks will continue to groan under heavy extra taxes and the country will continue to be threatened by a catastrophe.