Controversial Greek defense minister Panos Kammenos on Monday denied same-day press reports that he'll leave the current leftist-rightist coalition government if the latter sends parliament a proposal to solve the fYRoM "name issue" that includes the name "Macedonia" - ostensibly as part of a composite name compromise with the neighboring country.
Kammenos, who heads up a small rightist-populist party provides the current Tsipras government with a Parliament majority, dismissed a report carried by the website real.gr.
The minister and eight deputies from his right-wing Independent Greeks (AN.EL) party have previously said they will not vote for a composite name that includes the term "Macedonia".
With all mainstream opinion polls showing the AN.EL party failing to re-enter Parliament in case of snap elections, the party's central committee secretary, MP Thanassis Papachristopoulos, on Monday said there "wasn't one chance in a billion of the government collapsing".
Initially considered by the mostly leftist SYRIZA government as an opportune time for finally solve a thorny foreign policy issue dating to 1991 - and possibly "cornering" main opposition New Democracy (ND) into a political impasse in the process - a possible rift between SYRIZA and its junior partner in the "strange bedfellows" coalition merely generated an abrupt political furor without, however, tangible results from the negotiating table so far.
