Parliament employees appointed through the back door murmured against one of the articles, which makes them equal with all other public employees and threatened to strike. The critical voting will begin at midnight.

For the second day in a row, thousands of people flocked to the central Syntagma Square in Athens to protest against the austerity measures amounting to 13.5 billion euro that lawmakers must approve tonight. As usual, there were clashes between demonstrators and police.

"Mitt Romney lost by a narrow margin. I think the winner in 2016 will be a Republican," says the honorary professor at the University of Athens Theodore Couloumbis in an interview with Anastasia Balezdrova.

The Russian giant Gazprom and Greek Motor Oil Hellas along with M & M GAS holding are the main competitors for the purchase of the public Greek natural gas company DEPA. The state still holds 65% of the company and it is considered one of the strongest cards of the privatization plan of the present government.