Roundup: Greek gov't fumes over migration minister's reference to FYROM as Macedonia

Greek Migration Policy Minister Yannis Mouzalas' reference to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) as Macedonia stoked tensions within the two-partite Left-led coalition government on Wednesday.

Mouzalas used the term during an interview with local SKAI television channel on Tuesday. Over the past 25 years, Greece has been in dispute with its neighboring country over its name.

Mouzalas apologized over the "gaffe" a few hours later speaking to Athens 9.84 radio station, explaining it was a "slip of the tongue" and that he did not realize the error at the time.

However, most opposition parties, as well as Panos Kammenos, defense minister and leader of the junior coalition partners of the right-wing Independent Greeks party, insisted Mouzalas should step down.

"The government has our confidence vote, but not Mouzalas," Kammenos told media.

Mouzalas has already rendered his resignation to the Greek prime minister, according to government sources, but a final decision may be made after a critical EU summit on the refugee crisis on Thursday and Friday in Brussels.

ANEL's spokesperson Mandalena Papadopoulou argued that Mouzalas should be dismissed for causing this controversy as a matter of principle, since two Independent Greeks nominees for cabinet posts were forced to leave the government over "less serious comments."

A month ago, Panayiotis Sgouridis stepped down from the post of the deputy infrastructure minister after suggesting during an interview with a radio channel that Tsipras had "deceived" farmers to win the January 2015 general elections.

The radical left SYRIZA party of Alexis Tsipras is co-ruling Greece with the Independent Greeks ever since.

Following last September's snap elections, the coalition government controls 153 seats in the 300-member strong assembly (SYRIZA with 144 and ANEL with 9 seats).

Dimitris Kammenos, an ANEL MP, resigned 12 hours after his appointment Sept. 23 over a series of racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic tweets he had posted in recent years.

Main opposition party New Democracy and other opposition parties also called for Mouzalas' resignation on Wednesday, arguing that the faux pas undermined Athens' stance in relation to the name dispute with Skopje.

The centrist River party meanwhile dismissed the "nationalist fear mongering." Endit