THE NEW PRIME minister of Greece Lucas Papademos will be sworn in today at the head of a power-sharing government after marathon talks between the country’s rival parties.
The former vice-president of the ECB was named yesterday as the leader of a new unity government, formed after George Papandreou stepped down last weekend.
He will be sworn in at noon Irish time, and faces a struggle to convince European and international markets that Greece is not headed for financial meltdown.
“The Greek economy is facing huge problems despite the enormous efforts made [...] Greece is at a crucial crossroads,” Papademos said after his appointment yesterday, according to AFP. “The course will not be easy”, he added.
Former PM George Papandreou was forced out amid a storm of controversy when he announced plans to hold a referendum on the country’s second multi-billion-euro EU bailout.
It’s now emerged that French president Nicolas Sarkozy branded Papandreou “a madman” in a private aside to Barack Obama that was accidentally caught on mic at the G20 summit. He also said that Papandreou had announced the plan because he was a “depressive”.
According to RFI, Sarkozy told Obama: “This madman Papandreou comes up with his referendum. It’s because he’s a depressive, there’s no point in beating him up about it. He’s already on the floor. Knockout.”
The gaffe came in the same exchange that saw Sarkozy call Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu “a liar”.
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