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The Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is determined to deal with the "hanging" party and government functions. According to the Ethnos newspaper, the only thing that is still unclear is whether he would give a final notice before taking any actions. This applies especially to those ministers, who often attract the media, but not with work, but with the ignition of fires in the camp of the government.

In this period of crisis during which the government expects the visit of the Troika the statements made by the Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Tina Birbili caused astonishment and dissatisfaction among the members of the cabinet. Her position was a surprise to the Prime Minister’s advisers and made the Finance Ministry nervous. But Tina Birbili did not hesitate to oppose not only Geogrios Papakonstantinou concerning the regularization of illegal constructions, but also the Minister of the Interior Yannis Ragousis for the peripheral plan for waste management.

In an interview on Radio Vima 99.5 the Minister said that she would not support "a measure which aims only at raising money" from environment and public works perspective. She defined the regularization of illegal constructions as unconstitutional, because it raises the question of equality between citizens.

"The state could not treat the citizens who act against the law and those who follow it in the same way." Tina Birbili also added that the issue concerning the semi-open areas of the buildings remains open, although their regularization plan is already underway and today is the deadline for the payment of the first installment. The Minister showed her firm and different position in relation to the privatisation of the national electricity company, saying that the state should keep the control over it.
 
The same is her position in conjunction with the construction of the landfill in Keratea: "the state should be open to proposals on technologies. The residents should choose the technologies." Contrary to government assurances for implementing the project at any cost, Tina Birbili believes that the authorities should consider the proposal made by the residents of Keratea who offer the construction of a much smaller landfill in the industrial park. She said that the matter could not be solved without the close cooperation between the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change. Thus, according to the author of the article in Ethnos, she put herself on a par with Yannis Ragousis.

Tina Birbili easily excluded the possibility to be sent to another department or taken out of the composition of the cabinet in a possible reform by the Prime Minister which astonished many of her colleagues. "My contribution is the work that I know. I am not a politician who is able to cope well or not well with any issues. What I have I will provide it to the Ministry of Environment." She had rejected in the same way the possibility to be a candidate for a regional governor of Attica during the local elections last November.

Although the initial response from the Office of the Prime Minister is equally distant from the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Environment, Ethnos newspaper claimes that this is not the case in fact.

The close circle around George Papandreou have not tried to hide its discontent with Tina Birbili’s statements that the government seeks to wrench out funds without being interested in the environment. They said that the problem has two sides: the first concerns the regulation of the fines and the second – the creation of some kind of regularization. "We will proceed to both measures because the state interest requires it," was the comment of the Prime Minister’s advisers before reporters.

However, the ruling party has many "open" fronts. Typical is the statement of the Deputy Minister of Culture that the government should make stronger efforts against those who do not pay taxes - a clear attack on the Minister of Finance. "It is not possible in a modern country some to pay and others who are wealthy not to pay," said Tilemahos Hitiris.

The discussion about the privatisation of the national electricity company is expected to start again in the coming days. A deputy from Kozani, where the lignite processing factories of the company are, said that "in recent years the state has gained from the company more than 1.5 billion euros from taxes and shares. This means that it is profitable." The deputy also said he would do everything possible to keep the state control of 51%, without specifying how he would respond in Parliament during the vote on the government's proposal for the future of the company.

The discussion about whether George Papandreou would proceed to a reform in the government started again in recent days. According to his closest collaborators, "this is not his first choice." However, they do not fully exclude this possibility because "these are troubled times, therefore, we should not exclude the adoption of fundamental changes."