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Athens News Agency: News in English, 11-11-10
CONTENTS
[01] Party leaders begin latest critical meeting with president
[01] Party leaders begin latest critical meeting with president
AMNA / Greek political party leaders began yet another meeting, again
chaired Greek President Karolos Papoulias, shortly after 10 a.m. (08.00
GMT) on Thursday to name a new prime minister that will head an interim
coalition government. Such a government will be assigned the paramount
task of pushing through ratification of a second EC-ECB-IMF bailout
package, agreed to during an EU summit late last month, before leading
the country to general elections. amna
The meeting is attended by outgoing Premier and ruling PASOK party leader
George Papandreou, main opposition New Democracy (ND) leader Antonis
Samaras and Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) leader George Karatzaferis,
while the other two Parliament-represented parties, the Communist Party
(KKE) and Radical Left Coalition, have refused to attend.
Papandreou had a late night telephone discussion with Samaras and,
according to sources, discussed the prospect of former Greek central
banker and former European Central Bank (ECB) vice-president Lucas
Papademos assuming the helm of such a coalition government.
Speculation has swirled around Papademos' name since Papandreou made
it clear he would step down as prime minister, following heightened
criticism of his surprise decision on Oct. 31 to hold a referendum on
whether Greek voters approved of the Oct. 26-27 loan agreement with
Eurozone partners and creditors.
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