The head of Greece’s center-right New Democracy party was sworn into office Wednesday to lead a three-party coalition, ending the country’s debilitating political impasse.
ND leader Antonis Samaras will preside over the government, which also includes socialist party PASOK, and the Democratic Left.
“I will ask the new government that will be formed tomorrow to work hard so that we can offer tangible hope to our people,” Samaras told reporters, according to the Ekathimerini newspaper.
The Coalition of the Radical Left, or Syriza, the party that came in second in last Sunday’s voting, will serve as the opposition. Syriza chief Alexis Tsipras objects to the austerity measures imposed on Greece as part of the bailout deal. However, he does advocate for keeping Greece in the eurozone.
Samaras’s announcement comes after Evangelos Venizelos, the head of PASOK and former finance minister, confirmed that a government had been formed.
“The preconditions for the formulation of a government are in place,” he was quoted as saying by Athens News. “New Democracy, PASOK, and the Democratic Left are facing the responsibility to renegotiate the bailout. It’s a shame that some (Syriza) chose to stay away from this effort.”
Fotis Kouvelis, the head of the Democratic Left and the smallest party in the coalition, said Greece should do away with some of the austerity measures and “lift those measures that have literally bled society,” the Ekathimerini reported.
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