THE EMBATTLED GREEK prime minister George Papandreou dramatically survived a no confidence vote in the Greek parliament early this morning.
Telling his fellow MPs that the recently negotiated EU bailout package and austerity programme was an opportunity, “perhaps the last opportunity”, he said, for Greece to survive, change and prosper, Mr Papandreou won the hour by 153 votes to 145.
As the result was announced at 1am Athens time, MPs rose to applaud a smiling Mr Papandreou. Although Mr Papandreou said he will now go to the country’s president to seek a mandate to hold talks on the formation of a unity government, it remained unclear as to whether he would seek to stay on as prime minister.
The week’s dramatic events in Greece, with Mr Papandreou first announcing a referendum on the bailout package – to the horror of other euro zone leaders – but then dropping the notion, overshadowed the G20 meeting in Cannes, France.
T he summit concluded with International Monetary Fund inspectors being sent to Italy but without any pledge of new aid to boost Europe’s bailout fund.
Although Europe has been transfixed for days by the volatile political drama in Athens, the focus turned to Rome yesterday as Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi spurned an offer of emergency aid from the IMF and accepted external oversight of his new austerity plan.
The move reflects mounting concern about the fate of Italy, the third-largest euro zone state, as its borrowing costs spike to record levels and Mr Berlusconi struggles to maintain control over his squabbling coalition. As government figures questioned whether he could continue in office for much longer, Mr Berlusconi faced down renewed calls to resign and accused his opponents of betraying Italy. “As I sat at the table of talks here at the G20, I asked myself: Who else could represent Italy if I weren’t here?”
Mr Berlusconi and other leaders insisted the IMF inspectors are going to Rome at his invitation. They will