Papademos thrown in at the deep end
New PM welcomed by Greeks, but frantic negotiations and anti-austerity protests mean no honeymoon period
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday 13 November 2011 17.26 GMT
Greece's prime minister, Lucas Papademos, called the leaders of Germany and France, IMF chief Christine Lagarde and power brokers in the EU over the weekend in what has become a race against time to save the debt-burdened nation from bankruptcy.
Barely 24 hours after being installed at the helm of Athens' first coalition government in decades, the technocratic economist insisted that Greece was determined to commit to the tough terms of a controversial bailout agreed for the crisis-hit country last month.
The new premier, who was vice-president of the European Central Bank until May, must get the €130bn (£110bn) aid package approved by at least 180 votes in the 300-seat parliament if Greece is to receive more rescue loans form the EU and IMF.
"The payment of the next tranche of aid cannot happen unless there is a decisive step in this direction," warned the Elysée Palace in a statement that also welcomed Papademos' elevation to the post.
The prospect of Athens defaulting on big debt repayments next month means that the interim leader does not have the luxury of a honeymoon in office. The Greek finance minister, Evangelos Venzelos, says public coffers will run dry in mid-December if the country fails to secure a long-awaited €8bn cash injection from international lenders.
With officials from Greece's troika of creditors at the EU, IMF and ECB due to return to the capital for talks, all eyes will be on Papademos on Monday when he outlines his government's policies in parliament ahead of a vote of confidence in the new three-party coalition. The IMF and EU have said they want Greece's political oligarchy to give written assurances of its commitment to painful economic reforms in return for aid – a demand that, so far, has been rebuffed by the conservative New Democrat leader, Antonis Samaras.
Greeks have reacted to their new "non-political" premier with unexpected relief, according to polls. Tired of their warring party heads, 78% told a Kapa Research survey that they saw the 64-year-old US-trained academic as a positive sign in a country racked by recession, poverty and galloping unemployment.
Papademos is likely to be given a baptism of fire this week when thousands of anti-austerity protesters take to the streets to mark the 38th anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising that led to the collapse of military rule. With the spectre of violence hanging over Athens, he also held talks with police chiefs and the minister in charge of public order in a bid to limit potential damage from mounting opposition to cost-cutting measures.
