November 5, 2011
Hours after winning a confidence vote in parliament, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou called for the formation of a "government of national unity" to secure continued EU aid and save Greece from bankruptcy. Sources said he may step down and be succeeded by Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said on Saturday that talks would start soon to form a new Greek government supported by several parties, hours after he survived a confidence vote in parliament. He may step down soon and Greece may hold an election in February, political sources in Athens were reported as saying.
Speaking ahead of a meeting with Greek President Karolos Papoulias, Papandreou said he wanted to avoid early elections and said a broadly based government was needed to ensure that Greece receives the new €130 billion ($180 billion) bailout package, which includes a 50-percent debt haircut from private creditors, agreed by European Union leaders on Oct. 27.
"My aim is to immediately create a government of cooperation," Papandreou told the president in the presence of reporters. "A lack of consensus would worry our European partners over our country's will to stay in the euro zone."
The aim is to persuade international lenders to resume aid payments before the country runs out of money in December. Papandreou plunged the euro zone's rescue efforts and his own government into turmoil with his surprise decision last week to call a referendum on the bailout. He scrapped the referendum plan following massive pressure from EU leaders, especially German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who threatened to cease aid to Greece and spoke for the first time of the possibility that Greece may quit the euro zone.
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