GREEKS LAST night were still unaware of the identity of the man who will be asked to lead the country for the next 103 days, as negotiations on choosing a new prime minister continued between the country’s two biggest parties into the late hours.
The search for a new head of government began almost immediately on Sunday night, after prime minister George Papandreou agreed, in a meeting with his conservative New Democracy opponent, Antonis Samaras, to step aside and make way for an interim government.
The main task of the new premier and cabinet will be to ratify the new 50 per cent haircut and €130 billion bailout package agreed at the Brussels euro zone summit on October 27th before holding early elections. Pasok and main opposition negotiators yesterday fixed the general election date for February 19th.
But by yesterday evening there was less agreement on the subject of who the next Greek prime minister would be, with the man who had been touted since the Papandreou–Samaras meeting as the most likely candidate no longer seen as the indisputable frontrunner. Lucas Papademos, a former head of Greece’s central bank and vice-president of the European Central Bank from 2002 and 2010, was one of three names proposed at Sunday’s meeting, brokered by the country’s president, between Mr Papandreou and Mr Samaras.
He and Nikiforos Diamandouros, who was appointed European ombudsman in 2003, were nominated by Mr Papandreou, while Mr Samaras put forward the name of one of his deputy leaders, Stavros Dimas, who was European environment commissioner from 2004 to 2009.
As all three candidates have occupied top positions in the European Union, they would all be considered as credible partners by their EU peers.
An economist of the fiscal discipline and budget reduction school, Mr Papademos in October warned on extending the 21 per cent haircut deal agreed in July. If he takes the position, he will find himself having to ratify the agreement on the 50 per cent writedown on privately held Greek debt.
But last night the media was reporting that Mr Papademos had made it known to his Pasok and New Democracy interlocutors that he expected a strong say in how the government would be run and what its policies would be, and to have a say in the appointment of ministers and in how long the government would last.
Some observers pointed out yesterday that fixing a date for an election could undermine the functioning of government in the interim. A document circulated internally to party MPs and officials – and subsequently published in Athens News– revealed the stance the conservative opposition might take in the coalition.
“In this 100-day transitional period, we will support the laws that have already been voted so that we can change them later. We will not accept new measures. ‘No new measures’ is our red line.”
Speculation then moved to Mr Diamandouros, who last night “did not rule out the possibility of contributing if certain conditions were met”. Mr Diamandouros, who was appointed Greece’s first ombudsman in 1998, quickly won widespread praise for helping citizens battle their way through the country’s notorious bureaucracy.
Amid all the speculation concerning the new prime minister, one of the few clear messages emerging from the interparty negotiations was that the Pasok finance minister can expect to remain in his position.
New Democracy sources were saying last night that Evangelos Venizelos, who was in Brussels last night for the Eurogroup meeting, and his team should stay in office for the sake of continuity. A short statement issued at 10.15 last night said “talks regarding the name of the new prime minister were progressing in a positive way”.
The talks in Athens came as Mr Papandreou and Mr Venizelos sought to reassure the EU authorities about the effort to calm the turmoil.
Greek leaders are under pressure to quickly finalise the transfer of power to the emergency coalition since Europe and the IMF are withholding a crucial €8 billion rescue loan until such time as the new administration pledges to fully execute the bailout plan.
On the morning after he pledged to resign, Mr Papandreou phoned German chancellor Angela Merkel, euro group chief Jean-Claude Juncker, EU Commission leader José Manuel Barroso and European Council president Herman Van Rompuy. In Brussels for a meeting of euro zone finance ministers, Mr Venizelos met EU economics commissioner Olli Rehn.
Although Greece needs the €8 billion to avoid bankruptcy within weeks, successive ministers made it clear that they will not lightly release the money. This reflects anxiety about the failure of the outgoing government to implement promised reforms and disquiet over New Democracy’s declared opposition to the bailout plan.
The political upheaval in Athens had upset everything, said German minister Wolfgang Schäuble. “The programme’s commitments must be met before we can decide about payment of the tranche.”
Austrian minister Maria Fekter said the Greek opposition would have to provide written guarantees to implement the bailout.
“Only when we have this assurance from all political powers in Greece the next tranche can be paid.”