Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou

Vassiliki Thanou defiantly announced on Wednesday she will not step down as head of Greece's Competition Commission despite measures put forward by the new conservative government that institute strict rules regarding matters pertaining to conflict of interest.

Opposition New Democracy on Friday called for an investigation into claims of judicial manipulation made by former coalition partner Panos Kammenos against the prime minister's office.

The Greek Parliament's Institutions and Transparency Committee has endorsed the appointment of Vassiliki Thanou, former chief of the Supreme Court, as head of country's independent Competition Commission.

Her appointment was backed by MPs from SYRIZA, Independent Greeks (ANEL), the Union of Centrists and Golden Dawn.

Conservative opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis has written a letter to the European Union's Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager on the issue of the government's nomination of former Supreme Court chief Vassiliki Thanou for the director's chair of the Hellenic Competition Commission.

The government on Thursday nominated former Supreme Court president Vassiliki Thanou, who is now in charge of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's legal office, to head the country's Competition Commission, an independent authority.

A rift is growing within the union representing Greece's judges and prosecutors over a disagreement about how to deal with the Novartis bribery investigation.

A rift that has existed for a while now in the ranks of the Greek judiciary has resurfaced thanks to the Novartis bribery investigation, Kathimerini understands.

The head of the Greek prime minister's legal department, Vassiliki Thanou, has come under fire from the country's union of judges and prosecutors (EDE), who described her recent intervention in the Novartis bribery case as an "institutional faux pas."

Greece's cabinet on Monday appointed a new president to the country's Supreme Court, filling the top judicial post after the summer recess, following the retirement in June of Vassiliki Thanou.

The cabinet made its choice from the lower echelons of the court's judicial hierarchy, naming Vassilis Peppas as the new chief of the body after bypassing several vice presidents.

Greece's main opposition party, New Democracy, on Tuesday expressed serious concerns over the appointment of recently retired Supreme Court president Vassiliki Thanou to the head of the prime minister's legal department, calling the decision a "dark page for democracy."