Initial agreement reached in Greece power-sharing
Greece’s embattled prime minister and the head of the main opposition party reached an initial agreement Sunday night to form an interim government that will ensure the country’s new European debt deal and then lead Greece to early elections, the president’s office said.
The announcement came after President Karolos Papoulias chaired crisis talks between Prime Minister George Papandreou and opposition leader Antonis Samaras, capping a week of drama sparked by Papandreou’s announcement he was taking the debt deal to a referendum. He withdrew the plan Thursday after intense opposition from European leaders and his own lawmakers.
The political turmoil had frayed nerves on international markets and seen Greece’s cherished membership of Europe’s joint currency come under threat. Greece is anxious to reach an agreement quickly on a new government, as it faces a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels on Monday.