Samaras might include political figures

The view of some members of the opposition that there won’t be any ND members in the new government is not "the word of God".

 This clarification was made by ND representative Yannis Michelakis in his speech on the ANT1 TV station. "The important thing is to finish this quickly and facilitate the situation. It is not a coalition, but a transitional government that will aim to implement the agreement of October 26 and take us to elections."

The fact that ND leaves the door open for limited participation of its members in the new government changes the situation. Of all the members and staff of the opposition, reports indicate that the transitional government is likely to include Stavros Dimas, Costis Hatzidakis, Nikos Dendias, Costas Tzavaras and John Mourmouras, informal advisor to Samaras.

The meetings in Samaras’ office continued after midnight because apart from the PM's proposals, they discussed the new pressure by European partners for a written commitment on the part of the parties to the implementation of the October 27 agreement. ND does not want to commit to unknown measures and will not accept that easily.

Regarding people, the blue team maintained an attitude of rejection toward Lucas Papademos due to his demand that he form his own economy team, involve politicians from both parties and be allowed a time span of six months to settle all outstanding issues. Also, for reasons of symbolism they rejected the name of Nikiforos Diamandouros. Even late on Monday, they had not rejected the name of Panagiotis Roumeliotis, although not everybody agreed. Some say that "the identity of the IMF and his past that reaches back to the period of the Koskotas scandal are not the best credentials."

Despite all this, however, ND would like to have the least possible involvement and notes that it consents because of our need to get the money from the 6^th tranche and secure the country's European course. This does not mean it will co-governs. It also wants to ensure that the life of the government will not extend beyond February 19 and that "it is of special purpose" in the sense that the mission will be limited to signing the loan agreement and the negotiation of the new PSI for the involvement of the private sector in the haircut of the Greek debt.