Greek Prime Minister pledges national unity gov't talks to start Saturday requesting confidence vote

Greek PM pledges national unity gov't talks to start Saturday requesting confidence vote

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou pledged on Friday midnight to start talks for the creation of a national unity government on Saturday, saying that he is willing to discuss even the possibility for another person to lead the new cabinet in his place.

Addressing the Greek assembly shortly before a crucial confidence vote, the Greek prime minister asked for a positive vote as a "mandate to achieve wide consensus to avert power gap in the country or snap general elections," claiming that the prospect would be disastrous for Greece as the country faces the danger of default.

Papandreou said that he will visit President Karolos Papoulias on Saturday to begin talks with all political parties for the formation of a new national unity government.

Stressing that "remaining in power was not a goal in itself" for him, he said that the top priority of the new government must be the implementation of the Oct. 26 European Union (EU) agreement on a new package to tackle the Greek debt crisis.

Rejecting calls for immediate national elections by opposition parties and some ruling party deputies, he underlined that they could be held after the completion of all necessary procedures to safeguard the implementation of the aid package deal and the interests of the country.

Main opposition conservative party leader Antonis Samaras rejected Papandreou's proposal, insisting on the need for snap elections. In his statement he accused the prime minister of ambiguous language.

"There is only solution, by-partisan support to the agreement. Its ratification by the parliament is a national duty," he said, arguing it would ease the debt burden and allow needed reforms to exit the crisis.

"We can hold elections, once we have fulfilled our commitments," Papandreou stressed, defending his initial idea of holding a referendum on the agreement that sent shockwaves internationally over fears of a possible negative outcome, a Greek default that could destabilize the eurozone.

In a message to foreign leaders who criticized him this week for the surprise announcement, he said that he meant to go back to the roots of ancient Greek direct democracy.

Editor: yan

English.news.cn   2011-11-05 06:48:12 FeedbackPrintRSS
ATHENS, Nov. 5 (Xinhua)