Greece’s socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos leaves the official prime minister’s residence in Athens on June 14, 2013.
Members of Greece’s minority Socialist party have received key posts in a cabinet reshuffle after coalition party Democratic Left quit the government over the closure of state broadcaster ERT.
After continuous talks on Monday, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) received 11 minister and deputy minister posts while the remaining 32 went to Prime Minister Antonis Samarasâ„¢ conservative party.
The leader of the PASOK party, Evangelos Venizelos, was named deputy prime minister and foreign minister.
Other senior Socialist officials were granted top posts: Michalis Chrysochoidis becomes transport minister, while Yiannis Maniatis takes the energy brief.
Yannis Stournaras continues as finance minister to implement further austerity measures and other economic reforms.
The new two-party coalition government will take oath on Tuesday and will have a slight majority in parliament as it controls 153 of the 300 seats.
The cabinet reshuffle came after coalition member Democratic Left quit the government last week in protest of Samaras ordered the closure of state broadcaster ERT on June 11.
State TV and radio signals remain off air despite a ruling by Greeceâ„¢s top administrative court on June 17 ordering the government to restore public broadcasts.
Samaras has defended his action by saying ERTâ„¢s closure was part of the governmentâ„¢s pledge to slash 15,000 public sector employees by the end of 2014.
The large cut is a condition for the debt-stricken country to receive 240 billion euros (USD 314 billion) in rescue loans by the troika of international lenders — the European Union, the European Central Bank (ECB), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The country is already struggling with record high unemployment rates as the overall level stands at 27 percent and 62.5 percent of youths are without work.
CAH/HN
This article originally appeared on: Press TV