In the wake of the Greek state broadcaster crisis political tensions in the struggling Eurozone nation have been rife.
Investors feared that the coalition, which went through so much controversy in its formation, would collapse as a result of the split which formed over what to do about state broadcaster ERT.
The decision to close ERT, at the loss of thousands of jobs, resulted in the moderate leftist party Dimar walking away from Greece’s ruling coalition – and leaving the Prime Minister with a worryingly small majority.
Now the Greek government has undergone a shake-up, and a new cabinet will be sworn in later today.
It is believed that Evangelos Venizelos, leader of the coalition’s junior member the socialist Pasok party, will take on the role of Foreign Minister and Deputy PM.
According to official sources, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is hoping that by entrusting the Pasok party with more responsibility the coalition will be able to present a more united front.
Yannis Stournaras will remain in his post of Finance Minister.
The Greek Reporter newspaper had this to say of the reshuffle: ‘After repeatedly vowing he would not do so, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has shaken up his cabinet to reward PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos, his remaining partner, with the key posts of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, as well as giving the Socialists other top jobs. Venizelos, who last year refused to allow any of his members to join a shaky coalition that then included the tiny Democratic Left (DIMAR) out of apparent fear the government wouldn’t last in the face of unrelenting austerity measures, changed his stance after backing a decision by Samaras, the New Democracy Conservative leader to shut down the national broadcaster ERT and fire all 2,656 workers to satisfy international lenders.’
Today the EUR/USD pairing remains under pressure as the US Dollar continues its bullish relationship with its peers.
Meanwhile, Mervyn King’s last testimony to lawmakers as the Governor of the Bank of England, and Mario Draghi’s speech in Berlin, could trigger movement in the EUR/GBP pairing.
Euro (EUR) Exchange Rates
As of 09:00 –
The Euro/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.3136 >
The Euro/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.8504 >
The Euro/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.4185 <
The Euro/ New Zealand Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.6909 <
The Euro/ Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.3766 <