Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras reshuffled his government Monday, naming Evangelos Venizelos, who brokered the country's debt cutback last year, as foreign minister and deputy prime minister.

The appointment marks the return to the government for Venizelos, who after brokering the debt writeoff as finance minister in the previous government, has led the socialist Pasok party but not held a government office since elections last year.

The reshuffle, triggered by the pullout of moderate leftist party Democratic Left last week over a row over the closure of the state broadcaster, sees Pasok increase their number of ministers in the government from two to four.

Samaras' shutdown of state broadcaster ERT on June 11, despite warnings from Pasok and the Democratic Left, triggered widespread protests and concerns that it could bring down the government.

While Pasok's decision to stick with Samaras' conservatives helped relieve acute concerns of an early election that would likely bring to power leftist parties opposed to austerity measures required as part of the EU-IMF bailout, the coalition's parliamentary majority has shrunk to just three deputies.