Venizelos Snipes at Stournaras

Meeting with Greek journalists at a central Brussels hotel before heading to a meeting of NATO member foreign minister, Mr. Venizelos was asked if the finance minister was being groomed for the position of commissioner from Greece at the European Commission."

Mr. Venizelos' retorted immediately with a smile: "Mr. Stournaras is 'irreplaceable' and knows in the best manner what the Greek people, which he sympathizes with, are going through. In any event he also has his low pensioned mother and knows the real situation."

As concerns negotiations with the Troika, Mr. Venizelos expressed the certainty that the next aid tranche will be given to Greece, as the country has fulfilled the necessary preconditions.

Referring to the issue of mortgage foreclosures, the government vice president stressed that the government would not back down to an issue that was socially unjust adding that even if negotiations remain deadlocked he and PM Samaras would take the issue to a higher political level.