June 15, 2011
George Papandreou, Greece’s prime minister, announced on Wednesday that he would form a new government and seek a vote of confidence later this week, amid signs international lenders will release €12bn ($17bn) in aid next week despite their failure to reach a new bail-out agreement.
Mr Papandreou had discussed forming a coalition between his PASOK parliamentary group and New Democracy, the main conservative opposition party, but no deal was reached, according to people with knowledge of the talks.
“I will continue on the same course. This is the road of duty, together with PASOK’s parliamentary group, its members, and the Greek people,” Mr Papandreou said on television.
Top officials in Brussels spent most of Wednesday on the phone with Athens getting updates on whether the government could secure an all-party agreement on austerity measures, and were expected to be in discussions through the night.
The International Monetary Fund had said it would not provide its part of the next tranche under Greece’s existing bail-out programme until eurozone governments had pinned down exactly how they would fill Athens’ funding gap for 2012, a process that had been deadlocked over a dispute on whether to restructure Greek debt.
More
No comments:
Post a Comment