Feuding Greek leaders united by desire to avoid blame
Page last updated at 04:01 GMT, Wednesday, February 8, 2012 - 09:01 EST
Reuters:
With the eyes of an impatient Europe on them, Greece's feuding leaders are united by a desire to avoid blame for the harsh austerity required to save their country from a catastrophic default.
Analysts say that despite their posturing, the leaders of the conservative New Democracy party, the centre-left PASOK socialists and the far-right LAOS nationalists, which back Lucas Papademos' government, will ultimately accept the bailout terms demanded by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to avert chaos.
But some want to dump the internationally respected Papademos and revert to politics as usual as soon as the money is in the bank, while others want to keep him in office for tactical reasons.
Antonis Samaras, 60, New Democracy's leader, is battling to distance himself from unpopular austerity measures and trying to force an early general election shortly after a planned March bailout while his party is ahead in the polls.
"A very important consideration in his movements and calculations is his great desire to become the next prime minister," said Theodore Couloumbis, professor of international relations at the University of Athens.
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Comments
Greek politicians will be Greek politicians
February 8, 2012 by John Gurlides ( ), 14 weeks 4 days ago
The sad thing is not that our politicians are trying to blame everyone but themselves - we've had that situation since antiquity.
The sad thing is that there are roughly 10 million people in our country who - incredibly enough - believe them and allow the situation to go on and on and on...