ATHENS, Greece — Greece swore in conservative politician Antonis Samaras as prime minister on Wednesday, ending a six-week government crisis and offering a rare respite for the nation and the beleaguered euro currency zone — even if it didn’t address
ATHENS, Greece — Greece swore in conservative politician Antonis Samaras as prime minister on Wednesday, ending a six-week government crisis and offering a rare respite for the nation and the beleaguered euro currency zone — even if it didn’t address the underlying causes of Europe’s economic slide.
Samaras, a 61-year-old American-educated economist, took office at the head of an uneasy coalition that groups his center-right New Democracy party with its historic rival, the Socialist PASOK, and the Democratic Left, a small reformist party.
Looking determined and grim, Samaras lowered expectations in his first remarks as prime minister. “We will have to work hard to give our people tangible hope,” he said on emerging from the office of Greek President Karolos Papoulias.
With the country at the edge of bankruptcy after 13 quarters of economic downturn, Samaras, Evangelos Venizelos of PASOK and Fotis Kouvelis of the Democratic Left turned immediately to the business at hand — trying to persuade European creditors Greece intends to repay its debts but needs relief from an austerity package that has made things worse.
European leaders welcomed the new government, starting with Germany, Greece’s chief creditor, but Chancellor Angela Merkel’s congratulatory words sounded more like an admonition as she wished Samaras “luck and success for the difficult work that lies ahead.”
Wolfgang Schaeuble, the German finance minister, wielded the rhetorical hammer that he used to drive home German policy throughout the election campaign here: “What is needed is greater decisiveness in the implementation of what has been agreed,” he said in an interview.
The two parties at the heart of the new government, New Democracy and PASOK, have been widely blamed for the fiscal indiscipline and phony statistics that provoked the Greek fiscal meltdown, and their inability to work together in the early stages fueled the far bigger crisis that now surrounds the euro currency. The Democratic Left’s program includes measures intended to put the spotlight on the other two parties for covering up scandals that occurred on their watch.
The precariousness of the new government was brought home by the refusal of PASOK and the Democratic Left to name top political figures from their parties to the new government and instead proposed technocrats, not necessarily from their own parties, for key posts. Party officials portrayed the appointment of technocrats as a message to the Greek people of the seriousness of the new undertaking, but it may also be seen as a signal of their reluctance to be tied to a program that could still fail.
The position of finance minister will go to Vasilis Rapanos, president of the National Bank of Greece, a private institution.
