Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, survived the confidence vote on Saturday despite the recent turmoil surrounding his on/off referendum decisions. Out of the 300 possible votes in parliament he won 153, which represents his party’s current number of parliamentary seats.
However, it now appears that Papandreou will resign, allowing for the construction of a new coalition government. Evidently Sunday's Cabinet meeting was the last with Papandreou as Prime Minister. The new coalition government is expected to remain in power for about four months, and then a general election could be held before mid-2012.
Candidates for the prime minister's job include Petros Moliviatis and Loukas Papaimos.
The current Finance Minister, Evangelos Venizelos, appears likely to remain in office and represent Greece at Monday's Euro group meeting. Hopefully the 6th tranche of the May 2010 Economic Adjustment Programme worth €8bn`will now be paid (within the next two weeks) and the bail-out plan can proceed – although many key details still need to be resolved.
Increasingly the focus is shifting to Italy (which recently agreed to be monitored by the IMF in terms of its proposed fiscal reform), as well as the impact of the economic slowdown/recession in the Euro-area.