Giorgos Koumoutsakos

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias on Monday was to start briefing party leaders on the progress of his talks in Vienna last week with his counterpart from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Nikola Dimitrov, on ongoing United-Nations mediated talks on the "Macedonia" name issue.

Greek opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis has met with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

During the meeting, which was attended by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and New Democracy's shadow foreign minister Giorgos Koumoutsakos, Mitsotakis reportedly repeated Greece's established foreign policy positions.

New Democracy foreign affairs spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos criticized the government on Friday that it has not done all it could to avert a climax of Turkish aggression in the Aegean.

Speaking on Real FM radio station Koumoutsakos, a career diplomat, said that the government "has made a wrong judgment regarding Turkey's intentions."

New Democracy has asked for an immediate session of Parliament's defence committee so MPs can discuss the latest developments in Greek-Turkish relations.

The conservatives have proposed that the committee should hold an emergency session behind closed doors after a Turkish coast guard vessel rammed a Greek patrol boat off the coast of the Imia islets in the Aegean on Monday night.

Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias is on Thursday due to brief Parliament's cross-party committee for defense and foreign affairs in the wake of last week's visit to Greece by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Kotzias called on Monday for the committee to convene on Thursday.

Defense Minister Panos Kammenos is due to appear before Parliament's Military Contracts Committee on Friday to respond to questions about the stalled deal to sell ammunition to Saudi Arabia. 

British news outlet “Guardian” correspondent Helena Smith writes of the growing fury among the residents of the Greek island of Lesbos over the central government’s inability to deal with the ongoing problem of the rising number of refugees and illegal migrants and the overpopulation.

Greece's conservative opposition has urged the country's left-led administration to clarify its position on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro following reports in the foreign press that Athens has resisted calls by other EU member states for European sanctions against the South American country's socialist government.

Giorgos Koumoutsakos, New Democracy's shadow minister for foreign affairs and defense, on Wednesday called for a meeting of the National Council on Foreign Policy (NCFP) in a bid to hammer out a unified strategy on Greek-Albanian relations.

As he wrapped up a visit to the monastic community of Mount Athos, Greek opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis Friday unveiled a big shake-up of New Democracy's front bench, as he seeks to ramp up pressure on a weakened SYRIZA-led government.