negotiations were proceeding slowly, and a statement released by the government cast doubt on whether the parties would be able to agree on a new leader before Tuesday. The statement, in its entirety, read: “There was a positive approach in talks between Prime Minister George Papandreou and the leader of the main opposition, Antonis Samaras, regarding who should be the new prime minister.”How quite quite extraordinary!
Mr Papandreou’s office said that a cabinet meeting was scheduled for noon on Tuesday. It remained unclear when a new prime minister and government would be announced.
Mark Lowen of the BBC appears to think that the man who took Greece into the euro may emerge as the hero of the hour.
Lucas Papademos, a former vice president of the European Central Bank, is the front runner. He helped Greece move from drachma to euro, a process he would hope will not have to be reversed as the debt crisis worsens.It is becoming ever less clear what Greeks in general think about being in the euro. In fact, that seems to be left out of the story altogether, the reporters and analysts assuming that, no matter what, the majority wants to stay in.
There's no doubt what Greeks want. They want to stay in the euro without having to adopt the policies which would make it viable.
ReplyDeleteThat has certainly been true all this time. I wonder whether some of them might start thinking about alternatives. They can't possibly assume that somebody will sort the problems out. Not indefinitely.
ReplyDelete