November 5, 2011
Prime Minister George Papandreou was seeking to form a government of national unity that will enable Greece to convince international leaders to resume aid before the nation runs out of funds next month.
Papandreou was meeting with President Karolos Papoulias today as pressure mounts on the 59-year-old to step aside after he was forced to cancel a referendum that may have led to Greece being rejected from the euro. The premier won a confidence motion early this morning after pledging to disaffected members of his ruling Pasok party that he would not stay on.
“We have to agree on common goals for a timetable and program even for the head of this government,” Papandreou told lawmakers in parliament. “The scale of the task facing Greece exceeds the abilities of any one party.”
Papandreou’s offer capped a tumultuous week that started with him securing a second bailout from the European Union then roiling markets by unilaterally deciding to put the terms of that rescue to the Greek people in a vote. The premier must heal political divisions to secure agreement on the aid package before Greece runs out of funds next month.
“Papandreou, by bringing things to a head, has basically, without expecting this to happen, sacrificed his own political career,” Sassan Ghahramani, chief executive officer of SGH Macro Advisors, said on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart.” “The price for that has been that the opposition party is now willing to cooperate with a transitional government if it comes into place and show a more united front towards the EU and IMF.”
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