Papademos still in the running for interim PM job

FORMER Greek central bank vice president Lucas Papademos is back in the runnning for the role of interim Greek prime minister after the collapse of last night’s talks in Athens, according to the Greek daily Ekathimerini.

Prior to last night’s meeting between Prime Minister George Papandreou and New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras, it seemed Parliament Speaker Filippos Petsalnikos would be get the job, Samaras and some PASOK and ND MPs rejected his proposal.

Papademos was one of the architects of the country’s entry into the eurozone and the first candidate to be for the prime minister’s post since the recent crisis began. His credentials were discussed on Sunday, when Papandreou and Samaras met for the first time.

However, Papandreou did not contact Papademos after the meeting, the daily writes. There was concern that the Harvard professor would ask for certain guarantees that he would be allowed to shape policy without intervention from the parties in the coalition.

Sources told Ekathimerini that Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos appeared to balk at Papademos’s demands, fearing that he would be marginalized and possibly left out of the new government.

Ruling PASOK then turned to other potential candidates that included Petsalnikos and veteran MP Apostolos Kaklamanis.

The daily reported that after last night’s failed talks, Papademos was contacted again about taking on the premiership and he is said to have set certain terms, written commitments from parties concerning Greece’s agreements with the EU and IMF and elections in February.

 

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.