Greece swears in prime minister
New leader to uphold bailout deal
ATHENS — Greek conservative party head Antonis Samaras was sworn in as prime minister Wednesday at the helm of a three-party coalition that will uphold the country’s international bailout commitments.
The move ends a protracted political crisis that had cast doubt over Greece’s future in Europe’s joint currency and threatened to plunge the continent deeper into a financial crisis with global repercussions.
The new government has massive challenges ahead: It must deliver on pledges by its predecessors to generate huge new savings, privatize publicly owned companies and real estate, cut about 150,000 civil service jobs and open restricted professions to competition.
Samaras, 61, a U.S.-educated economist, was sworn in three days after his party, New Democracy, won the second national elections in six weeks but without enough votes to form a government on its own. He is Greece’s fourth prime minister in eight months.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated Samaras by phone and wished him “luck and success in the difficult work that lies ahead of him.” Merkel hopes for “good cooperation” with Samaras and his government, and she invited him to visit Berlin.
Germany is the main contributor to Greece’s two multibillion-euro loan packages.
The conservatives will join forces with the socialist party PASOK, which is led by former finance minister Evangelos Venizelos and came in third place, and the smaller Democratic Left led by Fotis Kouvelis.
Samaras, Venizelos and Kouvelis met Wednesday evening with Giorgos Zanias, who served as finance minister in the month-long caretaker government from the elections May 6 until the second vote June 17. Zanias was a key negotiator for Greece’s bailout. The meeting was also attended by National Bank of Greece Chairman Vasilis Rapanos, who has been tapped to succeed Zanias as finance minister.
Discussion centered on a meeting of the 17-nation eurozone’s finance ministers today in Luxembourg, at which Zanias will represent Greece.
All three parties broadly back Greece’s pledges to its creditors for further austerity measures but have pledged to renegotiate some of the rescue-loan terms.
New Democracy and PASOK are looking for an extension of at least two years in the deadlines for implementing additional cutbacks worth $18.42 billion.
Kouvelis of the Democratic Left went a bit further Wednesday, saying Greece should eventually “disengage” from the austerity commitments and “lift those measures that have literally bled society.”
Greece has been dependent on the loans from other eurozone nations and the International Monetary Fund since May 2010. In return, it has imposed deep spending cuts, slashed salaries and pensions and repeatedly hiked taxes.