Greek prime minister George Papandreou has appointed former defence minister Evangelos Venizelos as the country’s new finance minister in a reshuffle today.

Mr Papandreou named a new cabinet to muster support for painful economic reforms, in the face of public unrest and a split in his party that could push the country closer to debt default.

Mr Venizelos replaces George Papaconstantinou, who had been widely expected to be sacrificed by Mr Papandreou because he was the architect of the deeply unpopular austerity reforms made to meet the terms of an EU-IMF bailout.

Mr Venizelos said tonight Greece will seek approval from euro zone finance ministers on Sunday to agree to some changes in a mid-term austerity plan that parliament is expected to pass.

"The midterm plan is the passport for reliability not only for the fifth tranche but for the problem of the viability of the public debt," Mr Venizelos told Mega TV channel after he was appointed in a cabinet reshuffle.

Mr Venizelos, once Mr Papandreou's biggest rival, challenged him for the leadership of the Socialist Pasok party after its second consecutive election defeat in 2007. He has held several cabinet posts in previous socialist administrations since the mid-1990s, including government spokesman, justice minister and development minister.

Earlier, Greek 10-year government bonds declined for a ninth day and the yield moved to its highest level since the euro’s debut.

The yield on 6.25 per cent security due in June 2020 jumped 40 basis points to 18.35 per cent at 7.47am in London.

Losses by Greek bonds pushed the extra yield paid to hold Greek bonds rather than the benchmark German bund to 1,543 basis points.

Irish two-year notes also opened lower, with the yield rising 11 basis points to 13.06 per cent.

Reuters, Bloomberg