Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has won unanimous support from cabinet for his controversial plan to hold a referendum on the EU bailout deal. Mr Papandreou told a late-night cabinet meeting that the referendum will be "a clear mandate and a clear message in and outside Greece on our European course and participation in the euro." "No one will be able to doubt Greece's course within the euro," he said, adding that market turmoil triggered by his announcement of the referendum late on Monday would be short-lived. After the meeting, a Greek government spokesman said cabinet had unanimously to the referendum and that it would take place "as soon as possible". "The cabinet expressed its support," said government spokesman Elias Mossialos. "The referendum will take place as soon as possible, right after the basics of the bailout deal are formulated." The euro and global stocks were pummelled on financial markets on Tuesday after Mr Papandreou's move threw into question the survival of crucial efforts to contain the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis. Asian stocks extended the wave of selling on Wednesday. Meanwhile, The French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel will hold emergency talks on today in a desperate attempt to hold the eurozone together and formulate a response to the Greek prime minister's plan for a referendum on the austerity measures imposed by his European partners. George Papandreou's socialist government is on the brink of collapse after his referendum plan sparked an angry reaction within his own party and plunged Europe back into turmoil, just days after a complex rescue deal had been agreed – requiring Greece to embark on tough cost-cutting measures.
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Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has won unanimous support from cabinet for his controversial plan to hold a referendum on the EU bailout deal. Mr Papandreou told a late-night cabinet meeting that the referendum will be "a clear mandate and a clear message in and outside Greece on our European course and participation in the euro." "No one will be able to doubt Greece's course within the euro," he said, adding that market turmoil triggered by his announcement of the referendum late on Monday would be short-lived. After the meeting, a Greek government spokesman said cabinet had unanimously to the referendum and that it would take place "as soon as possible". "The cabinet expressed its support," said government spokesman Elias Mossialos. "The referendum will take place as soon as possible, right after the basics of the bailout deal are formulated." The euro and global stocks were pummelled on financial markets on Tuesday after Mr Papandreou's move threw into question the survival of crucial efforts to contain the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis. Asian stocks extended the wave of selling on Wednesday. Meanwhile, The French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel will hold emergency talks on today in a desperate attempt to hold the eurozone together and formulate a response to the Greek prime minister's plan for a referendum on the austerity measures imposed by his European partners. George Papandreou's socialist government is on the brink of collapse after his referendum plan sparked an angry reaction within his own party and plunged Europe back into turmoil, just days after a complex rescue deal had been agreed – requiring Greece to embark on tough cost-cutting measures.
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Greek Premier Faces Revolt
Greece veered toward political chaos as a dispute over a planned referendum on the country's latest bailout threatened to topple the government and derail Europe's delicate effort to keep the crisis from spreading.
European Council President Herman Van Rompuy could no longer avoid the embarrassing and unpleasant task of throwing out 10 people. Friendliness was called for, of course, and nice words. But so too was firmness: Their presence was no longer required, and they were asked to leave the assembly hall of the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels.
They were all proud people, the sort who usually do the throwing out themselves: national leaders like British Prime Minister David Cameron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk -- all from the 10 countries that are part of the European Union but don't use the euro.
They met last Wednesday with their 17 counterparts from the euro zone to discuss the future of Europe. In reality, though, they complained that the 17 euro-zone nations were embarking on their own path and not involving them sufficiently.
There was no shortage of grievances. Indeed, the full, 27-member session had already taken much longer than planned when Van Rompuy braced himself and asked Cameron, Tusk and the other eight leaders of non-euro-zone nations to leave. He thanked them for the "positive" discussion -- a choice of words which belied the heated atmosphere which characterized the session -- and went about his extremely unpleasant task.
There was a break, and then dinner was served. Now the 17 heads of state and government of the euro zone could finally tackle the important part of the meeting. Over dinner, they discussed how to save the euro.
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