Panos Skourletis

Energy Minister Panos Skourletis gave hope to Greek households by stating that there might be a reduction in electricity rates. He announced a potential drop in the Public Power Corporations (PPC) rates for 2016 during an interview on Monday with private MEGA TV.

Environment and Energy Minister Panos Skourletis refered to the statement made by French President Francois Hollande on Thursday in support of Greece. “The louder the voices in Europe, the more things we will do that are not included in the agreement,” he said, adding that never before had there been such a statement made from a person occupying such a high position.

The Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) is readying its new government following the party’s recent election triumph – for the second time this year after its first election win on January 25.

The Greek Council of State (CoS) issued a ruling on Thursday practically overturning a decision by outgoing  minister Panos Skourletis to temporarily shut down the gold mines in Skouries, Chalkidiki prefecture, northern Greece. The Council of State said that the reasoning behind Skourletis’ decision to suspend the works at the mine was unsubstantiated.

Grece’s high court will reportedly side with a major northern Greece mining operator and against the relevant ministry, determining that the latter delayed approval for technical studies at the gold mines in Skouries and Olympiada.

The workers of ‘Hellas Gold’, the subsidiary of Canadian gold mining company ‘Eldorado’, decided after a long union meeting to take action in protest against the Greek government’s decision to shut down the mining operations at Skouries, Chalkidiki, in northern Greece.

Productive Reconstruction and Energy Minister Panos Skourletis had a phone contact on Tuesday with the Russian Minister of Energy Alexander Novak. The two officials discussed the accelerations of the preparation procedures for the 9th Joint Interministerial Committee meeting in November.

The Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government’s main goal at the moment is to reach an agreement with lenders (EC, ECB, IMF and ESM) so as to clear the political scene and start its new three-year bailout program along with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s development package worth 35 bln euros.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras visited the Ministry of Agricultural Development at 1 p.m. on Wednesday. He met with Productive Reconstruction Minister Panos Skourletis and Agricultural Development Minister Vangelis Apostolou.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced on Friday evening major reshuffles to the composition of his government.

Tsipras has made a total of nine changes to his ministers and alternate ministers, daily Kathimerini informs.