Papandreou to quit ahead of new Greek government

GREECE’S prime minister and the leader of the main opposition party last night reached initial agreement on forming an interim government.

Prime Minister George Papandreou said he will not head the interim government and that talks will continue today.

The interim government is expected to be in place for about three to four months in order to ensure a new European debt deal and secure a vital instalment of bailout loans that Greece needs to avoid default.

The initial agreement came after a week of intense political drama sparked by Papandreou’s announcement that he was taking the debt deal to a referendum. He withdrew the plan on Thursday after intense opposition from Europe and his own MPs.

President Karolos Papoulias was hosting the meeting between Papandreou and the head of the conservative main opposition party, Antonis Samaras, after two days of political wrangling.

Papandreou survived a confidence vote in his government on Friday night.

“I’ve said many times, and I insist on this for the umpteenth time, that I am not interested in staying on in this new government as prime minister,” Papandreou told ministers yesterday before his talks with Samaras and Papoulias.

“I couldn’t have been clearer. I don’t play games and neither do I gamble the country’s fortunes.”

Samaras set Papandreou’s resignation as a condition for participating in any talks, saying he considered the prime minister to be “dangerous” for Greece