BBC News
November 11, 2011
Greece's leading political parties have joined forces behind an interim unity government tasked with steering the country through its massive debt crisis.
It is being led by former banker Lucas Papademos, the man credited with taking Greece into the eurozone, and the assumption is that it will be technocratic - a government led by experts, not politicians.
Here we look at some of the issues around this initiative to rescue the eurozone's most financially challenged member state.
What was wrong with the previous government?
On paper, the Socialists (Pasok) under George Papandreou were capable of leading Greece on their own, having won the 2009 poll with a majority of nine seats. However, public anger over drastic cuts in public spending finally spread to the party itself, with some MPs in open revolt. Two years into his term, Mr Papandreou found himself unable to govern effectively, while Greece's "troika" of creditors - the European Union, European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) - threatened to withhold further assistance in the absence of economic reforms.
A proposal by Mr Papandreou to hold a referendum on the troika's follow-up bailout deal shocked eurozone leaders and made his position untenable in the eyes of many. But calling an early election was not an option for many Pasok MPs, fearful of being punished by the voters for cuts that any ruling party would have probably been obliged to make.
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