Greece prepares for departure of George Papandreou

Source: The Guardian

The Greek capital woke up on Saturday to the victory of the prime minister in the vote of confidence at around 00.45 local time – and the knowledge that George Papandreou would almost certainly be replaced within the next few days by his deputy and rival Evangelos Venizelos.

He survived the vote of confidence with a slim majority of 153 votes to 145, but is almost certain to announce he will quit.

Deprived of the official support of the main opposition party, New Democracy, which wants snap elections instead, Papandreou is relying on two small parties well to the right of his ruling socialist Pasok party to form a "government of national unity" with command of 180 seats in parliament.

Papandreou met the Greek president, Karolos Papoulias, at noon local time on Saturday and told him that the nation had to forge a political consensus to prove it wanted to keep the euro, launching his push for a new coalition government to save the nation from bankruptcy.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/05/greece-papandreou-likely-resignation

The Greek capital woke up on Saturday to the victory of the prime minister in the vote of confidence at around 00.45 local time – and the knowledge that George Papandreou would almost certainly be replaced within the next few days by his deputy and rival Evangelos Venizelos.

He survived the vote of confidence with a slim majority of 153 votes to 145, but is almost certain to announce he will quit.

Deprived of the official support of the main opposition party, New Democracy, which wants snap elections instead, Papandreou is relying on two small parties well to the right of his ruling socialist Pasok party to form a "government of national unity" with command of 180 seats in parliament.

Papandreou met the Greek president, Karolos Papoulias, at noon local time on Saturday and told him that the nation had to forge a political consensus to prove it wanted to keep the euro, launching his push for a new coalition government to save the nation from bankruptcy.



Just...WOW!

Seems counter-intuitive. Some things about The Guardian's coverage have bothered me for a while. This is another instance, even though it may end up being correct in that assessment.

We will see.

as a 'no confidence' vote regardless of the outcome because he doesn't have the majority in his own party behind him. Or at least that's how I interpret it.
I don't think it's the Guardian that's confused. I think it's Greece...lol.

I'd like to see one here in the States on whatever the Catfood Commission comes up with.

Late Friday, Papandreou won a confidence vote in the Socialist-led parliament on a pledge that he was willing to quit and form a caretaker coalition.


This AP article explains it a little better:
http://news.yahoo.com/greek-premier-struggles-end-political-deadlock-163557650.html

rather than their own opinion. Same applies to all of our other UK newspapers.

"Mr. Papandreou is considering proposing Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos as an interim prime minister in a coalition government, senior officials in his ruling Socialist party said. "

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203804204577017681710816056.html

I think the idea was to avoid a no-confidence result in order to prevent immediate / short term general elections, with the understanding / promise that P would resign once he put together a collation government for the purpose of getting the bail-out deal approved and implemented. Then they can hold elections further down the road, after they are beyond a crisis situation and everyone can deliberate on it a bit. They keep referring to the collation government as an "interim" or "care taker" government.

I don't envy Papandreou's successor. He'll need a lot of support for members of Parliament and from the people. Papandreou couldn't even count on it. Resigning will be the first right thing Papandreou has done in a long, long time.

It seems to me that it's still uncertain which choice will prevail.

whereby they leave the Euro but remain in the EU.

* Switzerland is a special case - it's an EU country in practically every way, part of the Schengen Free Movement and Trade area, but didn't fully ratify the treaty.

want to at least remain in the EU, but the EU itself seems to be breaking apart.

And what's involved in dissing the euro? What does that mean for Greece?

I have so many questions, and I'm guessing the Greeks do too. Is anyone there trying to lay it out for them so they can
make a truly informed choice? It seems there are no 'big picture' people to advise them. Or maybe it's just that no one
knows the big picture.

the Europeans have their concerns about the Euro, while the NY and global banks are trying desperately not to test the artifice of CDS hedges that have been placed through them on sovereign defaults. They see a real danger of a cascade of defaults if another big European country defaults, a la Iceland. That danger is probably real and most definitely global. The whole artifice is so fragile, at this point, a lot of professional money people believe it's going to fall apart anyway, and soon, maybe within days or weeks.

seems to be about US$500 billion. Exactly whose up for what is a complete mystery - there are CDSs covering CDSs too. If Greece defaults the whole system of CDSs for Sovereign Debt goes tits up and falls into disuse. The problem for other EU countries in the absense of available CDSs would be the need for higher interest rates on their bonds - hence mention of Italy being next. It felt that some countries could reach the point where their bonds were completely.

macro standpoint. But, they're also an artifice and unsustainable in the face of real economic decline, massive gov't subsidies to markets and marketmakers, and balance of accounts problems. It's crushing, and frankly its gonna implode on itself sooner rather than later.

the CDS program will disintegrate. Yes - they are what has kept interest rates in single figures. Whether or not that good is a matter of conjecture - stopped the alarm bells ringing.

nobody actually knows what the frack is going to happen next, so everyone is just squirreling away dollars as a cushion against the inevitable liquidity traps. New lending has all but stopped, already. I think Krugman's model of the '97 Asia Crisis and currency and market contagions comes as close as anything to describing it in terms that most of us can understand.

Krugman and Steiglitz should have been put in charge of the rescue efforts on 01/20/09, and maybe we might have had a fighting chance to keep the U.S. and Euro middle-class economy intact. But, that would have required retiring most of Wall Street, and forcing open the numbered accounts - fat chance. So, they'll just destroy us in order to float their next patchwork bubble with what little can scraped off our carcasses.

Obama is their guy, and he's been useful in keeping the Democratic Party and the Left in suspension while the global bankers and multinationals cart off their liquid assets offshore. Only thing is, nowhere is safe, anymore.

as in Argentina and Iceland - the informed choice is: All of them out, get rid of all politicians... that is what the Greek people are saying, AFAIK. And I speak Greek, and with Greeks.

We, UK , had a head start. Other countries became EU members conditional on them joining the EU. Yes - Switzerland is the special case because is its faux EU. :)

- http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fiat">Fiat, fiat, fiat!!!

Wonder about the durability of both.

...when I studied such things, it was a term that I often found within old Latin religious edicts and Popey Notes -- which appear to be intended as an assertion the Church's power and authority to declare what is true. Versus what everyone else actually believed. The more things change, etc., etc., etc.


- Oh, and the car won't be around much longer either. Just as soon as the PIIGS roasting is done. Which should be very soon now........













http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hklqkwyISuk">''All tyranny needs to gain a foothold, is for people of good conscience to remain silent.'' ~ Thomas Jefferson.