Yanis Varoufakis

Amid acrimony between the government and main opposition SYRIZA over the outcome of his talks on Tuesday with US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is to brief the leaders of opposition parties on Friday and Monday about the visit, as well as key foreign policy issues.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is on Friday to brief the leaders of opposition parties on actions taken by his government on key national issues as well as the outcome of his visit this week to the US where he met with President Donald Trump. 

In an apparent turnaround from its original position, the MeRA25 party of former leftist finance minister Yanis Varoufakis said it will oppose the government's planned bill granting full voting rights to diaspora Greeks, describing it as an attempt to "deceive" diaspora Greeks and to "violate" their voting rights. 

In comments to Skai, former leftist finance minister Yanis Varoufakis described as "nonsense" claims that, while at the helm of the ministry in 2015, he had lodged a request with Moscow to print drachmas for Greece.  

Following a session of its political secretariat Friday, the main leftist opposition SYRIZA party shifted position on New Democracy's initiative to grant full voting rights to diaspora Greeks, indicating that it could compromise on the basis of proposals made by the Communist Party (KKE) and the MeRA25 party of former leftist finance minister Yanis Varoufakis.

Half-hearted talk about the need for there to be self-criticism within Syriza is rampant, but it seems that it will be difficult to launch a substantial dialogue about how that government led the country to third, painful bailout memorandum.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Friday achieved consensus with some party leaders on his government's plan to grant Greeks living abroad full voting rights but not with the leader of the main leftist opposition Alexis Tsipras, who rejected the basis of the initiative, which is the equality of each vote. 

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on Friday defended the ECB's role in the Greek debt crisis of 2015, when it froze a cash lifeline for the country's banks - forcing the government to introduce capital controls and weakening its negotiating positions with creditors.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will meet with the leaders of the opposition on Friday in a bid to find common ground over a government bill that will facilitate the vote of Greeks living abroad.

The main aim for Mitsotakis is to secure an overwhelming majority of two-thirds in Parliament, so that the provision can come into force in the next elections.

Unlike 2015, the vast majority of people crossing borders to enter Europe via Greece are migrants, not refugees, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told Parliament on Friday.