Greece seeks new prime minister after hard-fought power-sharing deal

Political leaders in Greece are looking for a new leader after a deal agreed late Sunday night to form a unity government to deal with the massive debt crisis that has pushed the country to the brink of bankruptcy. 

Reuters/Yannis Behrakis

Outgoing Prime Minister George Papandreou and the head of the main opposition party, conservative Antonis Samaris are still in negotiations on Monday on a new interim leader who will form an emergency government ahead of elections in February.

Frontrunners for the top job are Lucas Papademos, a former European Central Bank vice-president and the current Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos.

The priority for the new government is to pass a massive European Union bail out deal hammered out by eurozone members last month.

The deal would give Greece 100 billion euros in eurozone loans, a further 100 billion in debt reduction with banks accepting losses on their Greek bond holding and 30 billion euros in government guarantees.

Monday’s negotiations come as EU finance ministers gather in Brussels to debate the unlocking of the funds Greece needs to stay afloat. Venezelos has already said Athens needs to money by 15 December to pay the bills.

Meanwhile, markets reacted cautiously to the new power-sharing deal with Madrid down three per cent and Paris more than one per cent at opening.