Papademos wins first vote of confidence
European Central Bank VP Lucas Papademos will reportedly become the next Greek PM.
Greece’s new prime minister, Lucas Papademos, who’s only been in office for six days, won his first vote of confidence in Parliament on Wednesday.
Papademos won comfortably with 255 votes out of a 300-member parliament, as expected, The New York Times reported. It looked as though Papademos has the backing of three in four Greeks, Reuters reported. Only 38 votes were against him, and seven deputies absent from the vote.
A sweeping win on this vote for Papademos is hoped to restore investor confidence, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The vote comes after two weeks of political and economic crisis in Greece. Former Prime Minister George Papandreou stepped down last week after calling off a referendum that would have taken Greece out of the euro zone.
Read more at GlobalPost: Papademos sworn in as Greek Prime Minister (VIDEO)
Lawmakers will cast their ballots in a roll-call vote, which will give Papademos three months to implement budget measures and ensure a bailout of $176 billion (130 billion euros) agreed to with finance ministers in October, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported.
“What is being created here is a final chance for our country, a chance that must be exploited to the utmost,” Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported. “This government has a specific mandate. It is of limited duration, yes, obviously, but it has historic potential.”
Greece’s economic difficulties are the main challenges Papademos now faces. Papademos will need to implement painful tax rises and spending cuts to secure new loans for the country, Reuters reported.
Euro zone leaders expect written assurances from Greece’s three parties regarding the new bailout, the LA Times reported. Greece’s failure to put tougher austerity measures into place could block a disbursal of $11 billion in emergency funds needed by mid-December to avoid bankruptcy.
Still, New Democracy party leader Antonis Samaras again refused to provide the written guarantee to meet the terms of Greece's latest bailout, likely to create more tensions, Reuters reported.
Read more at GlobalPost: European democracy falls victim to euro zone crisis
Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you. We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
Make a gift today, and you’ll help us unlock a matching gift of $67,000!