Prime Minister George Papandreou promised a year ago that he would “change” debt-stricken Greece. “We’ll be back here at the edge of the precipice again some years down the road” otherwise, he said in an interview.
Today, Greece is again at the edge of the precipice -- and so is Papandreou, who is hanging onto his job by his fingertips. Should they tumble, much of Europe may feel the impact.
Papandreou has to keep his Pasok party’s shrinking parliamentary majority in line to pass 78 billion euros ($110 billion) in austerity measures required for Greece to get a second bailout from the European Union. EU reluctance to lend until the conditions are met has roiled markets from Amsterdam to Athens.
“His political authority inside Pasok and on the domestic stage has been severely, possibly irreversibly, damaged,” Jens Bastian, a visiting economist at Oxford University, in England, said in an e-mail. “He will not resign, but try to soldier on as long as he is convinced that his reform efforts are worth it and he can command the support of his MPs.”
Bloomberg
