The new Finance minister will be announced tomorrow

PM Lucas Papademos and ND leader Antonis Samaras talked about the new Finance minister, the pending government laws and the date of elections.

Regarding the new Finance minister, the PM is going to decide tonight. According to information the announcement of the name will come tomorrow morning. The inauguration will take place on Wednesday at 3pm. Information from ND says Samaras is not against Philippos Sahinidis and Giannitsis, provided that the replacement of the interior minister will be acceptable to ND, because he is the minister who will conduct the national elections.

Sources close to Evangelos Venizelos reiterated that the best solution at this time would be for Lucas Papademos to take up the position of the Finance minister, as "this position, in these difficult times requires a person with the prestige of the Greek prime minister." The same sources explained that the president of PASOK is not opposed to Tassos Giannitsis, but "from now on procedures that will have to be followed are both complex and compound, thus needing the experience of Lucas Papademos."

Regarding legislative work, a cabinet meeting is scheduled for this week, which will be about the legislation that has been undertaken for approval by this cabinet. The outstanding issues relate mainly to the ministries of Finance, Development and Transport.

Finally, Papademos - Samaras also talked about the election date, with April 29 and May 13 being the most prevalent ones.

Papademos’ government thus enters the final stretch of its life at least until the national elections. As colleagues of the prime minister emphasize, the pre-election period should not disturb the course of the economic program towards achieving the budgetary targets.