Back to Greece, where the burgeoning class of anti-austerity protesters who have suffered badly from the country's austerity measures are not pleased by the fact that Lucas Papademos will become interim PM tomorrow.
Helena Smith reports that the identity of the prime minister-elect is already provoking anger:
Leftist parties, militant unions and ordinary Greeks fed up with spending cuts, wage and pension reductions, benefit losses and the prospect of mass redundancies in the public sector have slammed the new PM for expressing the "logic of banks and markets."
"The new government and the new prime minister are being called to impose a political policy that does not have democratic legitimisation," railed Alexis Tsipras who heads the leftwing SYRIZA group.Tsipras added that Papademos "is someone who has not been elected or judged by the Greek people."
Greece's next prime minister, Lucas Papademos, earlier today. Photograph: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA/Rex Features
Here's more from Tsipras:
This development amounts to a merciless distortion of popular sovereignty. The choice of Mr Papademos is a guarantee that the same policies that have destroyed us will be continued with greater force and consequence.
It is a policy in which the unemployment rate among the young has reached 43,5 %, a policy that has closed more than 200,000 entrerprises, a policy of national humiliation and the plundering of society.
While all of Europe is paying heavily for the choices of its leadership and the European Central Bank, its [former] vice president is put forward as a solution to the crisis created by the very policies that he served.
Lucas Papademos's appointment has been welcomed by Greek businesses, who were understandably shivering at the prospect of Greece running out of money within a month.
"The new government is the last hope for the Greek economy," said Dimitris Daskoloupoulos who heads the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises, this afternoon. "If Greeks allow the new prime minister to work, if they overcome party politics ... it can become a government of national salvation."
The next stage for Greece is the official swearing-in of Lucas Papademos and his cabinet on Friday at 12pm GMT (2pm local time).
A three-day parliamentary debate will then take place, followed by a confidence vote.
The latest word from Athens is that Papademos has the support of Pasok (Papandreou's party), New Democracy (run by Antonis Samaras), and the far-right Laos party (whose leader, Giorgos Karatzaferis, stormed out of the presidential palace in protest at the way negotiations were proceeding).
With those three parties all in the coalition, the confidence vote should - on paper - be a breeze.
Will the Greek people tolerate being ruled by a non-elected prime minister, especially if he is implementing an austerity programme agreed as the price for financial help?
Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, believes not, telling Reuters that:
I can't see the unions and the population willing to support an unelected technical government that is demanded by the European Union and even more so Germany.
Dimitris Mardas, economics professor at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, was more optimistic - calling Papademos's appointment "the best solution out of the dozens that were
proposed":From now on it is up to him whether he will do what he wants or succumb to pressure from the two parties to follow a different policy. But his personality tends to rule out the latter.
Papademos certainly inherits an economy in crisis:
Greek unemployment hit a new record high today, with the rate rising to 18.4% as the country suffers its fourth year of recession. The economy is expected to shrink by 5.5% this year. The young continue to be the worst hit, with the jobless rate among 15-24-year-olds jumping to 43.5%, twice its level three years ago.
So what do we know about Lucas Papademos?
Born in October 1947, Papademos studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in America during the 1970s. He holds a degree in physics, a masters in electrical engineering and a doctorate in economics.
As he pointed out himself, he is an economist not a politician - having held academic positions at Columbia University, Harvard University and the University of Athens. He also worked for the Boston branch of the Federal Reserve.
But Papademos's biggest job within Greece, until now, was to run the Bank of Greece between 1994 and 2002. That stint covered the period in which Greece prepared to join the eurozone (it was admitted at the start of 2001). He had previously served as the bank's chief economist for nearly a decade.
Papademos went onto become vice-president of the European Central Bank, from 2002 to 2010. He left that job to become as an advisor to George Papandreou.
The appointment of the 64-year-old technocrat is likely to cheer EU officials, who have wanted someone "neutral" to take over the Greek administration.
To learn more, check out Helena Smith's profile of Papademos published back on Monday (when he appeared a shoe-in for the job)
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos outside the Greek Presidential palace in Athens today. Photograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
Lucas Papademos continued to warn that his new government will need to make serious decisions to rebuild the Greek economy:
The Greek economy continues to face huge problems despite the huge efforts at fiscal adjustment and improvement of competitiveness.
Greece is at a crucial crossroads. The choices that will be made and the policies are enforced will have a decisive impact on the well-being of Greeks.
"The days ahead will not be easy but the problems can be solved and will be solved if there is unity, cooperation and consensus [and] if we all contribute to this difficult effort to correct the economy.
Papademos went on to describe his government as "transitionary":
It has particular work to do and the main [bulk of] that work is to adopt the decisions that were taken at the 27 October summit of EU leaders as well as enforcing the economic polciies that are linked to those decisions."
We should all be optimistic about the final result. As long as we are united and work systematically for the success of these goals.Lucas Papademos has emerged from the presidential palace to address the Greek nation, having agreed to become Greece's interim prime minister:
Papademos says that:
I have accepted the mandate of the president of the republic after being proposed by political leaders to form a coalition government and i have accepted ... because I believe that we should all contribute to ... resolution of the crisis.
The honour is big and the responsibility that I undertake is greater.
Papademos also acknowledged that:
I am not a politician but I have dedicated the biggest part of my career to economics...
Lucas Papademos is expected to address the Greek people shortly...
The Greece president's office has confirmed that party leaders have agreed that Lucas Papademos will head a new interim government. It will take control of Greece until early elections can be held.
After days of drama, Lucas Papademos will lead Greece's next government. Photograph: Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images
Here's the official statement:
The president, after recommendations by political leaders who attended the meeting, has instructed Lucas Papademos to form a new government.
The government's main task will be to implement its side of the €130bn bailout deal agreed in Brussels two weeks ago. The immediate priority is to persuade the IMF and the EU to hand over the delayed €8bn loan tranche before Greece runs out of money in mid-December.
Helena reports that Antonis Samaras, head of the New Democracy party, and outgoing prime minister George Papandreou have both just left the presidential palace.
News from Greece's presidential palace - Helena Smith reports that the new government will be sworn in tomorrow at 2pm local time (noon GMT). And it appears certain that Lucas Papademos will be prime minister.
After the early sell-off, stock markets have now recovered. The FTSE 100 is up 9 points at 5469 (unremarkable, but better than down 99 points).
Friday, November 11, 2011
European debt crisis: Papademos named as Greece's new PM - 10 November 2011
