SYRIZA

Even as negotiations with Greece's creditors enter a critical phase, the political secretariat of SYRIZA has indicated that the party will not back down from its so-called red lines, reaffirming pre-election promises to protect pensioners and workers.

Justice Minister Nikos Paraskevopoulos said that the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government has no intention of seizing the Goethe Institute. He made this statement on Thursday during a meeting with representatives of the relatives of victims of Nazi atrocities committed in the town of Distomo during WWII.

The opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) has begun its partnership with Greece's main governing party, left-wing SYRIZA, socialist members have announced.

This comes more than a month after SYRIZA overwhelmingly won the elections in Greece, forging a coalition with the Independent Greeks party (ANEL).

In an interview to German magazine Spiegel on Monday, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias talked about a number of issues, including the situation in Ukraine, the sanctions against Russia and Germany's role in Europe.

Read below excerpts of the interview on several issues.

On the European stance towards Russia

"Unrealistic to expect Greece to repay debt"

ATHENS -- It is "unrealistic to expect Greece to repay its huge debt in full," Euclid Tsakalotos, the chief economics spokesman for Syriza has told the BBC.

Coalition talks have started between leftist SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras and the Independent Greeks right-wing party's Panos Kammenos.

Their meeting was scheduled for 10:30 EET, though Kammenos arrived a little earlier at the SYRIZA headquarters, the English-language website of Kathimerini reports.

Leftist SYRIZA party, the winner in Greece's snap elections, and rightist, anti-austerity Independent Greeks could form a government as early as Monday, sources suggest.

A meeting between SYRIZA's leader Alexis Tsipras and counterpart from IG Panos Kamenos is scheduled for Monday morning, according to a political scientist who spoke to the Bulgarian National Television in Athens.

With opinion polls suggesting that SYRIZA?s lead over New Democracy is growing, leftist leader Alexis Tsipras urged voters to give him the extra backing needed to gain a parliamentary majority in Sunday?s elections.

By Renee Maltezou & Lefteris Papadimas

Greece's Socialist PASOK party could support a government led by the radical leftist SYRIZA party as part of a wider pro-euro alliance to steer the country out of its bailout program, PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos told Reuters.

SYRIZA?s economic policy chief sought to soothe concerns on Friday, vowing that the leftist party has no plans to take unilateral action should it form a government after next Sunday?s election, adding however that it would have until July to hammer out a deal with creditors before serious liquidity problems arise.