Candidates that don’t perform well will be going home…

There is no issue of a reshuffle on Papademos’ part, nor of immediate resignation of a minister who will express their desire to participate in the PASOK succession race.

Close associates said that if a candidate PASOK leader can meet the obligations of their ministry during the intraparty election campaign, there will not be a problem with Maximos Mansion. But if they cannot perform their duties properly, they will have to leave their ministry.

Today, the PM will meet with Papakonstantinou and Papaioannou concerning issues of their ministries.

Meanwhile, the government finds itself amidst the heat of negotiations on the loan agreement, with all options now on the table. The negotiating process will be judged by the reforms which the government is willing to implement.

The PM has already instructed his government on the acceleration of the reform project and immediately after Christmas, bills that will deal with supplementary funds, justice issues, taxation and the deregulation of professions will be presented in parliament.

Papademos is seeking a reform framework with Greek features, which will be able to perform with the "special" economic context in Greece.

How will they “retract” the pension cuts?

This framework will go beyond the memorandum and a first taste of it is the bill on supplementary pensions by labour minister George Koutroumanis.

Regarding reductions in supplementary pensions, Koutroumanis is seeking solutions beyond the narrow limits of the Troika, such as the case of NAT, which has 15,000 employees and 75,000 pensioners.

According to these figures, NAT should receive an 80% reduction, which the minister and the PM have rejected, seeking a different way of saving funds.

Regarding negotiations on the loan agreement, the government is at a stage of "give and take" without resolving any of the controversial points. For example, even today it has not been determined whether the new loan agreement will be subject to British or Greek law, or which the exact interest rate is going to be.

And it is possible that the rates and the law might end up linked. If Greece is given a better interest rate, then the Greek government appears ready to fall back in the law issue and consent to the inclusion of the loan agreement in British law, which is something our lenders require since it makes them feel more reassured.