Greece parties in power-sharing talks

Socialist government and conservatives opposition plot ‘grand coalition’ to deal with debt crisis amid violent strike in Athens, reports state TV Greece’s Socialist government began power-sharing talks with the opposition conservatives as violent clashes ripped through Athens , state television has reported. State-run NET television said the prime minister, George Papandreou, was in talks with the opposition leader Antonis Samaras to form a possible grand coalition government to deal with the country’s crippling debt crisis. Officials were not immediately available for comment, but several conservative MPs publicly backed the idea and called for Papandreou to step aside. “The most important member of a ship’s crew is the captain, and the captain has to go,” prominent conservative MP Theodoros Karaoglou said. “If we joined forces, we could go to our [creditors] together to negotiate and the results of course would be better.” Violent clashes lasted several hours after more than 25,000 people gathered outside parliament to protest against a new package of tax rises and spending cuts. At least 20 people were detained, police said. The rally was called during a general strike against a new wave of austerity measures worth €28bn (£25bn) to 2015, exceeding the Socialists’ scheduled term in office by two years. Papandreou has suffered plummeting approval ratings and an open revolt within his own Pasok party. One of his MPs left the party on Tuesday night and declared himself an independent, reducing Pasok’s majority to five seats in the 300-member parliament. Greece Europe Global recession Economics Global economy European Union IMF Financial crisis Banking Market turmoil guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 15, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.