SYRIZA

 There is no time for the thorough deal Athens wanted, with debt restructuring and a major investment plan

By Dimitris Kontogiannis

Having returned from the European Union leaders? summit in Riga on Friday, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is due to meet with SYRIZA members on Saturday to brief them on the course of negotiations with the country?s lenders.

SYRIZA's political secretariat is due to meet on Wednesday at lunchtime as the deliberations within the leftist party gather pace ahead of a possible deal with lenders, which some MPs and members have indicated they may reject.

The Church of Greece and SYRIZA?s parliamentary group representative, Nikos Filis, clashed on Monday after the latter complained about the use of a relic of Saint Barbara, one of the most venerated saints in the Orthodox Church, which was brought to Greece over the weekend.

Roughly half the respondents in a latest opinion poll commissioned by Proto Thema consider prospects for  default or Grexit "exist" in the coming period!

Six out of 10 respondents, in fact, believe some type of "credit event" is possible, while at the same time giving ruling SYRIZA a double-digit lead over second place New Democracy (ND) party.

By Jonathan Stearns and Paul Tugwell

As dusk falls on the plains outside the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, Georgios Plaitakis opens up the throttle of his diesel-powered passenger train and settles in for the nine-hour journey east to the frontier.

Returning from his official visit to Germany, one of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras?s main tasks will be to ensure his party?s support for the reform list his government is compiling and preparing to send to lenders, possibly by the end of the week.

The Greek Parliament adopted on Wednesday a "humanitarian crisis" bill to help its poorest people despite the opposition expressed by the European Union.

This development came before the participation of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at the summit of EU leaders on Thursday, at which he is to seek more financial help, EurActiv reports.

Greece appointed early on Tuesday new management at the country's privatization agency (TAIPED), which is expected to play a key role in implementing the leftist government's plans to limit further state asset sell-offs.

A new sharpening of the bilateral relations between Greece and Germany was caused after Greek media accused the German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble of publicly insulting Greek Financial Minister Varoufakis.

Schäuble has been quoted as saying that Varoufakis is ''foolishly naive'' at the discussions on the Greek financial situation in Brussels Wednesday.