Antonis Samaras

New Democracy bears a "huge responsibility" for its populism in undermining his government after Greece's financial woes became known and for prolonging the country's bailout regime, former prime minister George Papandreou said on Friday.

Former conservative prime minister Antonis Samaras believes that the country's lenders pulled the plug on his government in late 2014 so as to prevent Greece from exiting the bailout agreements before Alexis Tsipras and SYRIZA came to power.

Parliament is poised to vote the same-sex marriage bill, with the help of three center-left and left-wing opposition parties.

Passage of the bill will bestow full parental rights upon same-sex couples, although it would not allow male partners to have children born in Greece through surrogacy.

Former New Democracy prime minister Antonis Samaras vehemently criticized the government's proposed legislation on same-sex couples during a speech preceding Thursday's cross-party vote on the bill. Samaras argued that the bill would significantly alter family law and declared his intention to vote against what he termed a "dangerous draft law." 

The Greek government's bill legalizing gay marriage and adoption rights is receiving widespread support among parliamentarians during a debate at the committee level on Monday.

The dispute between the government and Antonis Samaras, a former PM, continued on Monday, with government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis essentially accusing him of inconsistency in words and deeds.

The bill on same-sex marriage has plunged ruling New Democracy and leftist opposition SYRIZA into turmoil.

Indicatively, ND lawmaker Antonis Samaras, a former conservative prime minister, said he opposed the choice of Premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis to suggest the solution of abstention to dissenting MPs. 

Former premier Antonis Samaras has indicated that he will vote against a bill legalizing same-sex marriage when it comes before parliament, thus appearing to reject a proposal of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis that government MPs who disagree with the measure abstain in the relevant parliamentary vote.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Wednesday made targeted interventions in the composition of his government to enhance, as a senior official said, "its effectiveness."

More specifically, the decision to replace the political leadership of the Ministry of Citizen Protection, both minister and deputy minister, were made to bolster the conservative administration's security agenda.

Before the tumultuous year of 2015, Greece actually came close to leaving the eurozone in 2012, following the election of Antonis Samaras as prime minister. Chancellor Angela Merkel was notably apprehensive about the New Democracy leader's pre-election campaign.