“Those, who will lead the country to early elections if a republic president is not elected, will pay dearly for it,” government vice-president Evangelos Venizelos on Sunday underlined.

Speaking in a press conference in Thessaloniki in the context of the 79th International Fair (TIF), he accused main opposition Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) of having a “passion for power”, noting that the gap in the relations between them was caused by SYRIZA’s “sordid” statements and the attacks it has launched against him.

He said that he has no problem with the political background of the republic presidency candidate, adding that the invitation to SYRIZA for a collaboration in order to elect a president still stands.

On his relations with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, he said that they have an honest cooperation and effective, as much as possible, noting that their efforts focus on the same national goal but they belong to different political parties.