Eurasia Press & News
Rival political parties in Greece again pledged Wednesday to conclude power-sharing talks, which have dragged into a third day despite rising pressure from the country’s European partners for a swift resolution to the political crisis.
Greece’s big two political parties, the Socialists and the conservative New Democracy, are renowned for their opposition to each other and have rarely worked together since the rejection of the monarchy in 1974.
Greek deputy government spokesman Angelos Tolkas said the new government would be announced later in the day, but gave no indication who the new prime minister would be.
On Tuesday, Socialist Cabinet members issued their resignations Papandreou as part of the process of the creation of the new government, which is only expected to last until February.
Former European Central Bank vice-president Lucas Papademos was the early favourite to become the interim prime minister, but it remains unclear whether he remained the favoured candidate.
The new government will be tasked to secure the country’s new C130 billion ($179 billion) European rescue package and then get it through parliament. That approval will allow the release of a C8 billion ($11 billion) loan installment, without which Greece will go bankrupt before Christmas, potentially wrecking Europe’s banking system and sending the global economy back into recession.
