"There is no room for part-time ministers"

During the updating of political reporters, government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis announced two scheduled cabinet meetings within the week.

One concerning labor relations will take place on Wednesday and the other one, about ministry of justice issues, on Thursday. Capsis said that an emmergency summit on the matter of all open issues in the Eurozone is planned for early February. "For us the euro is a very serious issue and we expect significant developments after the holidays."

Regarding what health minister Andreas Loverdos said on the timing of early elections, the government spokesman did not to make any comments. However, he said that "the government was formed to address the major problems of the country and all ministers will be judged on this."

As to persistent questions raised on the subject, Capsis was clear: "There is a respected party agreement. It will not be affected, but the time is specified by the work undertaken and that will be precisely determined during its course. The government will build on the policy statements voted for by the three parties. We will not stop this administration before the completion of the PSI and the negotiations on the new program. The policy statements include the guidelines for the necessary measures."

On the occasion of clarifying questions about the stance of ministers and the party developments in PASOK, Capsis stressed how "it is clear to all that the ministers should be engaged in their own work, on which they will be evaluated and judged."

Regarding the new measures, Capsis referred to "policy announcements about the PM’s views" and accepted there is an issue with supplementary pensions and that the government seeks to secure them, referring to details about what was said by labour minister, George Koutroumanis.

Finally, in terms of the upcoming increases in electricity bills, he noted there are ongoing negotiations between the PPC, the ministry and RAE on the scale of the increase, in terms of consumer protection but also regarding the interests of PPC.