The government spokesman on Tuesday was queried by reporters over the prime minister's recent announcement that he will seek constitutional revisions by the Parliament elected in the next general elections.

"The prime minister outlined the framework of constitutional revision - the most significant institutional intervention attempted by this new government - in his address during the last day of debate in Parliament regarding the (2006 state) budget," spokesman Evangelos Antonaros said, adding that Premier Costas Karamanlis will detail several of the revisions the government wants in a speech to ruling New Democracy's Parliament group.

The separation of church and state and redefining the role of the president of the republic will not be touched upon within the context of the constitutional revision the government is seeking, Minister of the Interior, Public Administration and Decentralization Prokopis Pavlopoulos reiterated in an interview on Sky radio on Tuesday.

One of the issues that will be touched upon is allowing establishment of private universities, which however, will be non-profit institutions.

"They will, for example, either be branches of existing foreign universities, which are also non-profit organizations, or they could be institutions that are being founded for the first time in Greece," he said, adding again that the latter will also be non-profit organizations.

Private universities, like state universities, will fall under the state's jurisdiction, Pavlopoulos explained.

Regarding illegal political funding, Pavlopoulos said that this will involve three key points, but did not elaborate, saying only that "it is a matter of dialogue and collective effort."

He added that safeguards regarding funding of political parties by individuals, candidates' election campaign expenses and means declarations must be put in place.

Source: Athens News Agency

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