Makis Voridis

The government is aiming to push through a first set of prior actions pledged to the troika by the end of this week in a bid to secure a pending tranche of 1 billion euros in rescue loans, sources have told Kathimerini.

Greece must increase its health sector spending from 6 percent of gross domestic product to the EU average of 8 percent, the country’s new Health Minister Makis Voridis said on Monday.

In comments made to private TV channel ANT1, the conservative minister said that he would seek to increase the share during an upcoming debate on the 2015 budget in October.

Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis and his team are this week to focus on the implementation of the six so-called prior actions that should have been fulfilled in May to secure the release of a June tranche of rescue loans worth 1 billion euros.

As Greece’s new finance minister, Gikas Hardouvelis, prepares to face his eurozone counterparts for the first time at a summit in Luxembourg on Thursday, government officials insisted on Wednesday that Athens is committed to implementing reforms pledged to the troika despite suggestions by certain new ministers that some of the tougher measures can be avoided.

State hospitals are expected to operate on skeleton staffs on Wednesday as doctors and staff embark on a 24-hour strike in protest at a new evaluation system which unions argue will lead to more layoffs in the sector.

Medical staff are expected to rally outside the Ministry of Health at noon.

Adonis Georgiadis will be New Democracy's new parliamentary spokesman, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said after a meeting between the two men in Athens Thursday.

“He is one of the party's worthiest, most skilled and most combative members,” Samaras said of the former health minister praising his willingness to push with necessary reforms.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism, has voiced its concern over the appointment of Makis Voridis as Health Minister in Monday's government reshuffle.

Greek President Karolos Papoulias presided over the swearing-in ceremony of the cabinet at the Presidential Palace in central Athens shortly after 3.30 p.m. on Tuesday, following a reshuffle announced by the coalition government on Monday which saw several key ministers, including for Finance, being replaced.

The ceremony was conducted by Archbishop Ieronymos.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Monday carried out a radical overhaul of his cabinet, replacing Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras with economist and former prime-ministerial adviser Gikas Hardouvelis (photo) and introducing different faces from both coalition parties.

A reshuffle of the Greek government is expected to be concluded on Wednesday amid continued speculation over who will replace Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras in one of the crisis-hit country's most crucial posts, according to sources cited by Skai on Tuesday.