Papademos Front-Runner to Lead Greece - WSJ.com
Papademos Front-Runner to Lead Greece
Former ECB Vice President Favored to Be Greek PM
By COSTAS PARIS and ALKMAN GRANITSAS
ATHENS—Greece's embattled Socialist government and their main rivals in opposition are converging on naming former European Central Bank Vice President Lucas Papademos to lead an interim administration, officials from both parties said Monday, although no deal has yet been reached.
On Sunday, the country's two largest parties agreed to form an interim national unity government after a week of political turmoil in Athens that nearly toppled the government and raised questions about Greece's future in the euro zone.
The interim government is charged with implementing Greece's freshly minted €130 billion aid deal before leading the country to fresh elections in February.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou waves from his car as he leaves the presidential palace after a meeting with President Karolos Papoulias and Mr. Samaras in Athens on Sunday.
The makeup of that new government is expected to be announced later Monday after an expected telephone conversation between Socialist Premier George Papandreou and opposition New Democracy party leader Antonis Samaras.
However, differences remain between the Socialists, or Pasok, and the New Democracy party over whether the caretaker administration should be led by politicians or technocrats.
"It seems we are getting closer to agreeing on Papademos becoming the interim prime minister, but there is no deal yet," said a senior Socialist party official. "There are still voices in Pasok that say the prime minister should be a political person, while New Democracy wants a technocrat. So the choice is not final."
Europe's political and financial leaders are looking for ways to keep Greece's crisis from spiraling into other countries.
A New Democracy party official said: "New Democracy would not object to Papademos as a compromise, although we are still far from an agreement.
"New Democracy strongly insists that there are changes in the defense, public order and justice ministries, while the government spokesman will also certainly change."
George Karatzaferis, leader of the small nationalist LAOS party, said there was still no agreement on Mr. Papademos.
"I was hoping that coming out of here I could say 'Habemus Papademos' but I can't say that yet," he said after a meeting with Greek President Karolos Papoulias.
An official in Mr. Papandreou's office said the outgoing prime minister talked with Mr. Samaras earlier Monday on the formation of the new government. "There will be more (calls) through the duration of the day," he said.
Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, who is due to attend a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers in Brussels Monday that is expected to discuss whether to release Greece's next aid payment, is expected to stay on.
"There has to be continuity on who the euro zone is talking to," said the Pasok party official. "We strongly feel that Venizelos should continue as finance minister."
Over a weekend fraught with fast-paced political developments, Mr. Venizelos was also considered to serve as interim prime minister, something that some Socialist party members still favor. But other names are also being considered.
Besides Mr. Papademos, veteran diplomat Petros Molyviatis, who negotiated Greece's entry into the European Union, former European Commissioner Stavros Dimas and European Union Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamantouros are also said to be candidates.
"Other names that have also been discussed are [former] Commissioner Dimas and Petros Molyviatis," said the Pasok official, adding that, as of late Sunday night, there was "no solid proposal" to Papademos made.
He said Diamantouros was first mentioned by Mr. Papandreou when he met Mr. Samaras Sunday and "his name is still on the table."
—Stelios Bouras in Athens contributed to this article.
Write to Costas Paris at
costas.paris@dowjones.com
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