Calamos Supports Greece
GreekReporter.comGreeceGreece's Transition Government Sworn In as New Campaign Starts

Greece's Transition Government Sworn In as New Campaign Starts

ATHENS – Greeceā€™s interim Prime Minister Panagiotis Pikramenos has announced the caretaker government that will be in charge of Greece until June 17 elections, after a first ballot on May 6 failed to give any party a mandate and talks to form a coalition collapsed. After a brief ceremony, the new – temporary – leaders were sworn in and the government was inaugurated, although it will have few real duties. At the same time, political leaders began planning their campaigns after a first round in which most of them stuck to indoor rallies to avoid being harassed or even assaulted by Greeks furious over austerity measures.
Antonios Manitakis was appointed as Interior Minister, Giorgos Zanias as the countryā€™s Finance Minister, while diplomat Petros Molyviatis has been named as Foreign Minister, a position he held from 2004-2006. A government statement said that Giorgos Zanias, a senior Finance Ministry official and Athens University professor of economics, will hold the finance portfolio.
The government, which, at the request of the political parties will only have an administrative role, is mostly made up of university professors, former ministers and diplomats. The head of the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE), Yiannis Stournaras, joins the government as Development Minister. The think-tank chief had been linked with the post of finance minister in the past.
Another economist, Napoleon Maraveyias, was appointed Agricultural Development Minister.
The MPs elected in the May 6 elections were also to be sworn in on May 17 but the body immediately dissolved so the second campaign can begin. It seems set to be a referendum on the austerity measures demanded by international lenders in return for rescue loans and whether Greece could be forced out of the Eurozone unless a new government follows through with more reforms.
Greeks have been protesting, striking and rioting for two years to no avail until the first round of voting in which they repudiated a brief coalition made up of the once ruling parties of New Democracy and PASOK. Lucas Papademos, the former European Central Bank Vice-President who served as interim Prime Minister, warned that a rejection of the bailout deals with the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) Troika putting up two bailouts of $325 billion would lead to Greece being pushed out of the Eurozone and back to the drachma.
In an open letter addressed to the Greek people Papademos stated that the coalition government he led had a specific agenda: to avoid a disorderly default, the approval of a second bailout package of $173 billion and a deal that wrote down Greek debt by $134 billion but imposed losses of 74 percent on investors, locking Greece out of the markets and dependent on public aid. But that came with more of the pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions that have enraged Greeks.
Still, Papademos said that the sacrifices were not a ā€œlost cause,ā€ and he said they have helped reform the countryā€™s near-dead economy and keeping it in the Eurozone. He said the May 6 elections showed that while most Greeks wanted changes to austerity that they still support being in the Eurozone and any proposed new terms had to be negotiated again with the Troika.
He said a unilateral rejection of the country’s binding agreements would be ā€œdisastrousā€ and could even be pushed out of the EU.
The new Greek cabinet:
Prime Minister: Panayiotis Pikrammenos
Administrative Reform and Electronic Governance: Pavlos Apostolidis
Interior Minister: Antonis Maniatakis
Finance Minister: Giorgios Zannias
Foreign Minister: Petros Molyviatis
Defense Minister: Fragos Fragoulis
Development Minister: Yiannis Stournaras
Environment Minister: Grigoris Tsaltas
Education Minister: Angeliki-Efrosini Kiaou
Infrastructure & Transport Minister: Simos Simopoulos
Labor Minister: Antonis Roupakiotis
Health Minister: Christos Kittas
Agricultural Development Minister: Napoleon Maraveyias
Justice Minister: Christos Geraris
Citizensā€™ Protection Minister: Eleftherios Economou
Culture Minister: Tatiana Karapanayioti
State Minister: Antonis Argyros

Ā 
Ā 
Ā 
Ā 
Ā 
Ā 
Ā 
Ā 
Ā 
Ā 
The 300 MPs elected on 6 May are taking their seats for a single day.The 300 MPs elected on 6 May are taking their seats for a single day.
(Source: Greek Interior Ministry, Kathimerini)

See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!



Related Posts