Theano Fotiou

Eleven independent MPs who broke away from main opposition SYRIZA in recent weeks have agreed to form a new parliamentary group, the name of which will be announced on Monday. 

Chairman of the group is Alexis Haritsis, while Euclides Tsakalotos and Nasos Iliopoulos are the parliamentary representatives. Peti Perka is secretary.

A new online platform regulating and streamlining the adoption and fostering process in Greece received some 450 applications within just two weeks of going into operation, Alternate Social Solidarity Minister Theano Fotiou said on Friday.

Legislation set to take effect in April aims to improve transparency and speed up the placement of children put up for adoption or foster care in Greece.

"We want to lift the shroud of mystery that often surrounds adoptions in Greece," Alternate Social Solidarity Minister Theano Fotiou told Kathimerini.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity will begin distributing school lunches on Monday, as part of a program aimed at helping youngsters whose families are having trouble making ends meet.

The distribution will cover 831 schools and 90 percent of the families who applied across Greece for assistance.

The remainder are expected to be covered within the next few days.

Draft legislation that aims to grant same-sex couples the right to adopt a child has divided leftist SYRIZA, with several MPs raising objections to the proposed reform, arguing Greek society is not "ready" for such a change.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was visiting the Labor and Social Insurance Ministry on Monday as part of a tour of all ministries aimed at addressing the particular problems they address and indicating that his government is addressing the everyday problems of citizens.

As a protest against subsidy cuts to families with three children,  members of such families made Greek dishes of gemista (stuffed peppers and tomatoes) and took these with them outside the Ministry of Labor, Social Insurance and Social Solidarity.

Theano Fotiou, who served as deputy Minister for Employment and Social Solidarity under the left government SYRIZA received a lump sum of 70,000 Euros before leaving her ministerial post and while the capital controls were in effect for the rest of the Greeks.

Political developments in Greece ahead of next month’s snap election – the third time voters will head to the ballot box in 2015! – turned surreal over the weekend, with one top SYRIZA MP threatening to commit … suicide, while former leftist comrades continued their “civil war” over the airwaves.

Alternate Social Solidarity Minister Theano Fotiou told private MEGA TV that a call for applications in order to receive humanitarian aid will be issued in April, in accordance with provisions of a draft bill to remedy what the leftist government calls a humanitarian crisis in the country.