Communists, leftist SYRIZA to boycott Monday’s talks
A meeting between the Greek president and all party leaders on Monday to name a new unity government has been scrapped after left-wing parties said they would boycott the talks, state TV NET said.
As a result, the new prime minister and cabinet will be named after talks between incumbent George Papandreou and the conservative head of opposition Antonis Samaras, a government spokesman said.
The Communists and the leftist SYRIZA party declined to attend, moments after a power-sharing deal was concluded between the ruling socialists and the main opposition conservatives to keep Greece in the eurozone was announced.
SYRIZA said they wanted no part in the talks, arguing that the new government would not emerge from elections and is therefore «politically powerless».
The deal was reached after a meeting lasting nearly two hours between Papandreou, Samaras and President Karolos Papoulias, the Greek head of state.
Papandreou and Samaras were to talk in a few hours before announcing the new prime minister and cabinet, government spokesman Ilias Mossialos told reporters outside the presidential mansion, the semi-state Athens News Agency said.
Senior economic officials from the government and the opposition conservatives were also holding follow-up talks early on Monday ahead of a meeting by eurozone finance ministers in Brussels, Mosialos said.
Mosialos said the government team in Brussels will be headed by Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, who is rumoured to retain his deputy prime minister’s position in the new government.
“What we must keep is that today is a historic day because Greece won today,» Mossialos told reporters according to the semi-state Athens News Agency.
With patience in Europe and in Greece wearing thin, pressure had mounted throughout the day for an agreement that Papandreou had said was needed to keep Greece in the eurozone.
[AFP]
