The Greek parliament will decide late Wednesday evening whether Alexis Tsipras will continue to govern in Greece. This was announced today by the parliamentary presidency in Athens. Tsipras had put the vote of confidence the day before after Defense Minister Panos Kammenos and his Independent Greeks Party (ANEL) abandoned the coalition with the governing party SYRIZA.
The reason for this is a compromise in the name dispute with neighboring Macedonia. Kammenos – a right-wing populist – does not want to support the new name North Macedonia. Macedonia needs to rename itself so that Greece does not block further the country’s approach to the EU and NATO.
Tsipras needs 151 votes in parliament with 300 seats. His party has 145 MPs. The Greek press believed that the left-leaning prime minister had a good chance of finding the six needed deputies.
