Greece Is Poised to Form New Coalition ATHENS - Evangelos Venizelos, the Greek Socialist leader, said on Wednesday that talks on the formation of a coalition government were almost over and that its composition would announced within hours. Greece has a government. Who will be involved in it will be decided by tonight," Mr. Venizelos said in a televised statement after talks with Antonis Samaras, the leader of the New Democracy Party who is expected to be the new prime minister. Mr. Venizelos, a former finance minister who negotiated Greece's second debt deal with foreign creditors, said that George Zannias, the outgoing finance minister, would represent Greece at a European finance ministers" summit meeting on Thursday. It was expected that the president of the National Bank of Greece, Vassilis Rapanos, will assume the finance portfolio in the new cabinet. Mr. Venizelos said he and the leaders of the other two parties in the coalition would meet with Mr. Zannias Wednesday night for a briefing ahead of the finance ministers" meeting. "We have to prepare very well for the European summit, it will be the first battle to change the program and return to growth," Mr. Venizelos said, referring to Greece's debt deal with creditors. He again criticized leftist Syriza, the party that came second in elections and opposes the bailout, for not joining a "national negotiating team." As expected, Mr. Venizelos said his party would not contribute politicians to new cabinet. The Democratic Left leader, Fotis Kouvelis, made similar remarks earlier. Earlier on Wednesday, Mr. Samaras met the leader of the moderate Democratic Left, Mr. Kouvelis. In a televised statement after the talks, Mr. Kouvelis confirmed his party's support for a New Democracy-led coalition. He said he expected an agreement on a common policy platform within few hours and the composition of the new government to be announced by Thursday at the latest. Mr. Samaras is visit President Karolos Papoulias at 4 p.m., local media reported, and is expected to be sworn in as the new prime minister at 6.30 pm. At 7 p.m., Mr. Samaras is then to meet with Mr. Venizelos, Mr. Kouvelis and Mr. Zannias for the pre-Eurogroup briefing. The likeliest candidate for the daunting portfolio of finance minister was believed to be Mr. Rapanos, the president of the National Bank, the country's biggest lender. On Tuesday, he had objected to former top-ranking ministers and current legislators joining the cabinet, in an effort to avoid their association with the additional austerity measures, drawing criticism from some party officials.