Greek gov't seeks to change rulebook

Seeking to avoid a head-on collision with Panos Kammenos, the leader of former coalition partner Independent Greeks (ANEL), the government said Thursday it is mulling a change in the rules that will allow the right-wing party to retain its parliamentary group.

Currently, a party can have a parliamentary group with a minimum of five lawmakers. However, ANEL is facing the prospect of being left with four lawmakers. Under the change, however, Aristidis Fokas, an MP who entered Parliament on the ticket of the Union of Centrists but joined ANEL in September, would be allowed to be counted as a member of ANEL's parliamentary group, even though he was elected with a different party.

The government's move is seen as a bid to appease ANEL's growing hostility to the government, reflected in Kammenos's threat of "war" if ANEL's parliamentary group is dissolved.

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