Greek PM To Step Down, Unity Government To Be Installed
Lukas Papademos
Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou on Sunday night announced his imminent resignation from the governmental office, so that a national unity government be established to carry out the country through the economic crisis it is in. Papandreou’s action comes under pressure from the European leaders, who threatened the country with bankruptcy, after he declared last week that the people should be consulted by means of a referendum, only to change his mind two days after.
On Sunday night, Papandreou and opposition leader Antonis Samaras reached an principle agreement at the end of an hour and a half of negotiations. The two are expected to meet again on Monday and discuss over the composition of the new cabinet, which will take office as soon as Papandreou has resigned.
The presidential office announced that discussions will be carried on as to who will lead the coalition government, but it was asserted that it will not be Papandreou. According to the finance minister the national unity government will lead the country until February 19 next year, when parliamentary elections are scheduled.
On Sunday, European Union offered Greece a 24-hour ultimatum, during which time Athens is to tell them who will be in charge of implementing the bailout package austerity program agreed on in the parliament two weeks ago.
The Greek politicians have attempted to cut a deal ahead of the euro zone finance ministers’ meeting on Monday, in order to show that Greece is serious about implementing the measures agreed with them.
It is not known yet who will take Papandreou’s office, but the names of Lukas Papdemos, former deputy president of the European Central Bank, and Evangelos Venizelos, finance minister, have been circulated.
As soon as the new prime minister takes office, Karolos Papoulias, the president of Greece, who hosted the meeting on Sunday, will invite him to form a new cabinet. Center-left Greek daily Ta Nea is of the opinion that Lukas Papademos is the frontrunner for the ministerial office and that by Monday he will be the new PM of Greece.
The same thing is advocated by other newspapers as well. The main reason for such a judgment is the fact that Papadimos worked with the European Central Bank and could be trusted much easier by his European counterparts.
The new government will be sworn in in about a week from the moment it has been established. Greeks must receive 130 billion euro in emergency bailout, as the country is running out of money in a few weeks, which would explain the tension and the desire to have it done as soon as possible.
Papandreou’s resignation comes after he won a vote of confidence in the Greek parliament on Friday. He had promised that if he got the vote, he would step down.
The European leaders agreed two weeks ago that in order for Greece to avoid financial default, a writedown of about 50 percent of the countries debts was in order, so that the debt ceiling be made open for new loans after it had come to 160 percent of the domestic gross product.
