MeRA25

A 19-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday in connection to the attack by a group of people on the leader of the MeRA25 party, Yanis Varoufakis, on Friday in a restaurant in the Exarchia district of central Athens.

Meanwhile, the 17-year-old who was arrested for recording the attack on his phone will appear before a prosecutor on Wednesday.

A new opinion poll suggests ruling New Democracy's lead over main opposition SYRIZA has narrowed, with 2.9 percentage points now separating the parties.

The MRB poll for Open TV on voting intentions put New Democracy at 27.4% (down from 30.2%), SYRIZA at 24.5% (up from 24.3%) and PASOK-Movement for Change at 9% (-1).

Yanis Varoufakis, leader of the small party MeRA25, said on Tuesday he had decided to accept the police protection provided by the Citizen Protection Ministry, after he was viciously attacked outside a restaurant in central Athens on Friday night.

New Democracy records losses in the first poll after the fires, although it maintains a comfortable, double-digit lead over SYRIZA, according to the GPO poll for the newspaper "TA NEA".

Protesters clash with riot police outside Parliament in Athens on Wednesday, as MPs debated an education bill that includes provisions for a university campus security force. Officers used tear gas to disperse the protesters and remanded dozens in custody.

MeRA25 party said that its lawmeksr and Vice-President of Parliament, Sofia Sakorafa, was attacked by riot police outside Attica police headquarters on Wednesday evening.

Sakorafa was at the building along with others after a roundup of protesters against the education bill and tried to intervene.

Governing New Democracy still has a double-digit lead over SYRIZA, a public opinion poll released by Pulse showed on Thursday. It gave the center-right party a 39% approval rating, against 23% for the leftist opposition, though both parties slipped one percentage point compared to Pulse's December 12-16 poll.

Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias will hold meetings with representatives of Greece's opposition parties on Monday, as part of their regular briefing on current foreign policy issues.

A 2.5-billion-euro deal for the purchase of 18 Dassault-made Rafale fighter jets from France was ratified by Greece's Parliament on Thursday evening.

The deal passed with an overwhelming majority, securing the support of opposition lawmakers from SYRIZA, Movement for Change and Greek Solution. The Greek Communist Party (KKE) and MeRA25 voted it down.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is the most popular political leader in Greece (46 pct), despite a slight decline in his popularity, while the majority (57 pct) of people want the government to complete its term, according to a nationwide poll conducted by Prorata and published on Wednesday.