Greek PM calls cabinet meeting on Friday

Embattled Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called a cabinet meeting on Friday, which is scheduled to take place in Parliament at 1 p.m.

Tsipras, who called snap elections last Sunday after his SYRIZA party was defeated in the polls for European Parliament, is reportedly planning a cabinet shakeup in a bid to boost the leftists' flagging popularity.

The cabinet meeting also comes a day after Justice Minister Michalis Kalogirou wrote to opposition chief Kyriakos Mitsotakis asking for his party's consent in the appointment of a new president and prosecutor of the Supreme Court before July's polls. The conservative party has rejected the appeal.

Tsipras has said that he will ask President Prokopis Pavlopoulos to officially announce the snap elections a few days after this Sunday's runoffs for local and regional government, with July 7 set as the date for the contest to take place.

SYRIZA lost to opposition New Democracy by nearly 10 points last Sunday, garnering 23.8 percent of the vote against the conservatives' 33.1 percent.