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| Europe |
| Papademos sworn in, heads cabinet of usual suspects |
| 2011-11-12 |
| ATHENS: Technocrat Prime Minister Lucas Papademos took office on Friday to save Greece from bankruptcy, heading a coalition cabinet filled with many of the same politicians who led the nation into crisis. But they'll turn it around this time, see... At a colorful swearing-in ceremony, bearded Orthodox priests, led by the Archbishop of Athens, blessed Papademos, a former vice president of the European Central Bank, and a cabinet dominated by the two main parties which had bickered for four days before agreeing on the crisis coalition. Apart from Papademos, who has no political experience, the main new face in the cabinet is a minister from the LAOS party — the first time the far right has entered a Greek government since the country returned to democracy in 1974 following years of military rule. The line-up includes socialist party power broker Evangelos Venizelos, who keeps the post as finance minister that he held in the outgoing government of George Papandreou, which imploded last week. Nothing points to a commitment of austerity like a socialist finance minister... Analysts said Papademos would have to assert his authority over a cabinet packed with the conservative and socialist party politicians who alternated power for decades as Greece built up a huge debt that it could not manage, forcing a bailout. “Greece has a government that is the result of political compromise among three parties. It is obvious that there was a dealing of the cards,” said Costas Panagopoulos, head of ALCO pollsters. “It all now depends on how the prime minister handles them.” A never-politician 'technocrat', now prime minister, against the wily rats who ran the country into the ground. I know how I'm betting... |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 This is somewhat funny. As far as the EU is concerned, they want Greece looted to pay back their loans from EU bankers, and screw the Greek people. So they have emplaced an EU insider to be the new PM. And they plan the same approach to Italy, and probably other nations as well, even Britain. That is, they are willing to throw democracy out the window to preserve their own fortunes, appointing "special masters" to run countries in default. This is a subtle form of foreign tyranny, and those peoples should reject it, and these overlords. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-11-12 12:34 |
| #1 Technocrats V politicians. Whoever wins, greeks lose. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2011-11-12 11:58 |