Greece’s socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos leaves the official prime minister’s residence in Athens on June 14, 2013.<\/p>\n
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.\n<\/p>\n
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 Samaras\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 conservative party.\n<\/p>\n
The leader of the PASOK party, Evangelos Venizelos, was named deputy prime minister and foreign minister.\n<\/p>\n
Other senior Socialist officials were granted top posts: Michalis Chrysochoidis becomes transport minister, while Yiannis Maniatis takes the energy brief.\n<\/p>\n
Yannis Stournaras continues as finance minister to implement further austerity measures and other economic reforms.\n<\/p>\n
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.\n<\/p>\n
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.\n<\/p>\n
State TV and radio signals remain off air despite a ruling by Greece\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s top administrative court on June 17 ordering the government to restore public broadcasts.\n<\/p>\n
Samaras has defended his action by saying ERT\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s closure was part of the government\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s pledge to slash 15,000 public sector employees by the end of 2014.\n<\/p>\n
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).\n<\/p>\n
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.\n<\/p>\n
CAH\/HN<\/p>\n<\/div>\n