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At 1:00 pm today leader of the newly formed Popular Unity party Panagiotis Lafazanis will return to President Prokopis Pavlopoulos the exploratory mandate after the unsuccessful attempt to form a government within the current parliament.

This will formally open the way for the appointment of a caretaker government to take the helm of Greece until the early parliamentary elections on 20 September. Having received the mandate, the Greek President will call each parliamentary party leader to convene a meeting under his leadership.

It is highly unlikely for it to take place, as both Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his coalition partner and leader of Independent Greeks Panos Kammenos have already announced that they do not want to participate. The same is the position of general secretary of the Communist Party Dimitris Koutsoumbas.

Under these conditions and despite pressure from New Democracy, PASOK and Popular Unity for the opposite, President Prokopis Pavlopoulos will not convene a meeting and will announce the official position of each of the leaders, and then he will appoint chairperson of the Areopagus (Greek Supreme Court) Vassiliki Thanou caretaker Prime Minister.

According to the Greek media, the main ministers in the caretaker government will be the following: diplomat of long standing and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the governments of New Democracy Petros Moliviatis will head the same ministry. Constitutional law professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and former Minister of Justice in the coalition cabinet of New Democracy, PASOK and Democratic Left Antonis Manitakis will be appointed Minister of Interior, who is in charge of the organization of the election process. George Houliarakis, head of the Greek negotiating team that reached an agreement with creditors, will take the post of Minister of Finance. Former Deputy Minister Dimitris Papangelopoulos will become Minister of Justice.

Antonis Manitakis, Petros Moliviatis and George Houliarakis, collage: kathimerini.gr

If chairperson of the Areopagus Vassiliki Thanou stands at the head of state, she will be the first female Prime Minister of Greece, albeit as the head of a caretaker government. Her candidacy has provoked a sharp reaction from New Democracy that insists on one of the presidents of the other two Greek supreme courts filling the post. Former Minister of Justice and MP from New Democracy Charalambos Athanasiou defines her nomination as "a result of an offence" and her as "a bearer of the special task to serve the partisan interests of SYRIZA and Independent Greeks".

Chairperson of the Areopagus Vassiliki Thanou and Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos during their previous meeting, photo: kathimerini.gr

Vassiliki Thanou was elected Vice-President of the Areopagus in 2014 by the coalition government of New Democracy and PASOK at the time and she will retire in 2017. The government of SYRIZA and Independent Greeks has recently appointed her head of the Supreme Court on the basis of several criteria. On the one hand, she was its Vice President and among the first candidates for the post in judicial circles. In addition, however, and within her professional duties, Thanou strongly opposed the budget consolidation. The most striking case was that of describing as unconstitutional the property tax imposed by the cabinet of New Democracy and PASOK. It is worth noting that the specific tax is no longer extraordinary but permanent by decision of the cabinet of SYRIZA and Independent Greeks.

In addition, and as chairperson of the union of Greek judges and prosecutors, Vassiliki Thanou had sent a letter to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, and as chairperson of the Areopagus to her European counterparts. In the letters, she urged them to support the European future of Greece and increase the resistance to the measures provided in the Memorandum of financial support. She became the subject of much criticism according to which these actions contravened her legal duties.

Despite the information available so far that the new caretaker government will take an oath on Friday, the Greek media report that it may do so today. Its first decision will be to dissolve the current parliament.