ONLY FOUR months after succeeding Mr Andreas Papandreou, the Greek Prime Minister, Mr Costas Simitis, is facing a tough battle for control of his party, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok).
Mr Papandreou (77) has refused to step down as president of the party he welded together 22 years ago, and it appears increasingly likely that the main battle will come later this month in the party congress with elections to a newly created post of executive vice president.
The group of so called "lieutenants", including two government ministers, Mr Haris Kastanidis and Mr Dimitris Reppas, have expressed their support for Mr Simitis. But they have been critical of those supporting the so called dual leadership, with Mr Papandreou as party president and Mr Simitis as Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister was initially uneasy about the proposals for electing a vice president, insisting Pasok needed "clear solutions" to its internal problems. "Clear solutions. Clear solutions are always the best," he said after meeting Pasok's secretary, Mr Kostas Skandalidis, who had talks with Mr Papandreou before a meeting of the party's executive bureau.
Mr Simitis had a taste of victory this month when the parliamentary group elected three of his supporters to the party presidium. But the way is not clear yet, and observers believe the rift has grown wider between the Prime Minister and party members still loyal to Mr Papandreou and the unreformed wing of the party represented by the Interior Minister, Mr Akis Tsohatzsopoulos.
Mr Tshatzsopoulos, who talks in terms of a collective party leadership, is likely to be Mr Simitis's main rival at the party congress. He keeps a tight grip on the party machine and organisation, and his supporters also managed to take three of the presidium seats, with only one going to a supporter of the Defence Minister, Mr Gerasimos Arsenis, who gave Mr Simitis a tough run in the leadership race in January.
If Mr Simitis fails to win the support of the party congress, he is expected to resign and Pasok could split, with Mr Simitis taking key party figures with him, including the Foreign Minister, Mr Theodoros Pangalos, and the Development Minister, Dr Vasso Papandreou. Together, the three were the main reformers who led the move to oust Mr Papandreou from the party leadership four months ago.
Either way, the outcome is likely to bring new elections in the autumn, with a congress victory encouraging Mr Simitis to seek his own mandate from the voters.
In his official residence, the Maximos Palace near Sindagma Square in central Athens, Mr Simitis appeared optimistic about next month's congress, saying the type of change he proposes in Pasok "is not easy, but is necessary . . . Democratic practices must be learned."
He said Greece's two main parties, Pasok and New Democracy, bad been dominated for almost 30 years by chiefs, a reference to both Mr Papandreou and the former president, Mr Konstantinos Karamanlis. "We need no more chiefs of this type in Greece," he added.
Mr Simitis gave the impression of wanting to put party divisions behind him in order to concentrate on the major foreign policy questions facing Greece, including relations with Turkey, tensions over the Aegean islands and the presence of Turkish occupying troops in northern Cyprus, playing a positive role in the Balkans, and working towards closer co operation with the countries of the Middle East.
He expressed disappointment that no fellow member state of the European Union had expressed support for Greece when Turkey violated its borders last January and tried to occupy the small Dodecanese islets of Imia, off the coast of Kalilimnos. No European country had ever been asked to redraw its borders, he said, and "no other European country has seen soldiers of another country on its territory".
Good Greek Turkish relations make sense, the Prime Minister insists, and he wants closer cooperation with his neighbour in many fields, including economic development and tourism. "Nationalism is out of time and place now, he declares.
But Mr Simitis insists no EU member state has ever been asked to redraw its borders, and concedes he cannot understand Turkey's demands in the Aegean: "I don't know what Turkey wants exactly."
HOWEVER, despite an apparent lack of confidence in the six month Italian presidency, Mr Simitis expressed his hopes for the forthcoming Inter Governmental Conference (IGC). Greece had three hopes for the negotiations: a more federative model for the EU, more powers for the Commission and more democracy and an enhancement of common policy making.
Greece would find it difficult to meet the Maastricht requirements for Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), he said, but he hoped the country would still try to met those requirements.
Asked whether he expected Cyprus to become a full member of the EU by 2000, he said: "We are working for it and I hope we will achieve it."
Looking outside the EU, Mr Simitis pointed out that Athens had good relations with its neighbours in the Balkans, while its differences with Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Fyrom) were close to being overcome.
However, Turkey's claims in the Aegean were a problem relating directly to European foreign and security issues, and "they (EU member states) should help solve the problem". Declaring Greece's good intentions, he added forcefully: "This is not the age of nationalism any more. This is not the age of wars."