Elena Panaritis

Michalis Psalidopoulos was given the unenviable position of negotiating for Greece with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Finance Ministry announced the appointment of Psalidopoulos on Wednesday. He is the president of the Center of Planning and Economic Research (KEPE) and Professor of Economics at the Athens University. He will take the post on June 20.

 Top party figures say elections could be needed if proposal does attract support

With Greece due to be presented with a proposal from its lenders, attention is gradually turning toward SYRIZA and how the party?s MPs and members will react to the content of the document put forward by the institutions.

Economist Elena Panaritis has revealed that she will not accept an offer to become Greece's next representative at the International Monetary Fund.

Panaritis issued a brief statement on Monday saying that she would not be taking up the post due to objections from SYRIZA MPs and members.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras faced a backlash on Sunday from his leftist party lawmakers over the government's pick for the country's representative at the International Monetary Fund, the latest issue to deepen divisions in the ruling party.

Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis took to Twitter to state that his controversial choice of Elena Panaritis as Greece’s representative to the International Monetary Fund does not mean that he’ll resign:

Twitter users immediately reacted to this comment, prompting Varoufakis to react:

Elena Panaritis’ appointment as Greece’s representative to the International Monetary Fund generated increased criticism from within the ruling Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) party and the opposition. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis’ choice of the economist has come under fire from within his own party, prompting the reaction of Panaritis herself.

A meeting of Greek authorities and representatives of the three institutions of the Brussels Group (EC, ECB and IMF) are continuing at an intense pace following a meeting between technical teams on a wide range of issues on Saturday. Talks focused on the operation of Greece’s justice system, markets and other issues.

Economist Elena Panaritis has been chosen as the country’s representative to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to replace Thanos Katsambas, says a press release of the Ministry of Finance.

Greece believes that the February 20 Eurogroup agreement means that there is no specific primary surplus target for this year, a leading Greek negotiator has told Kathimerini.

Bulgarian economist Iva Petrova will head the IMF technical team to Athens and will participate in the negotiations with the Greek government on behalf of the IMF.

This was confirmed by both IMF spokesman Gerry Rice and Elena Panaritis, who is adviser to Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, private bTV station reports.