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Greek premier eases crisis with cabinet reshuffle
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 17 - 06 - 2011


Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou appointed a
new finance minister in a broad cabinet reshuffle on Friday in an
effort to push through a wave of new unpopular austerity measures to
prevent the country from going bankrupt, according to dpa.
After two days of political turmoil that threatened to bring down
the government, Papandreou appeared to have met the demands of his
wayward party deputies for the time being by replacing inexperienced
loyalists with party veterans.
Defence Minister Evangelos Venizelos was appointed as finance
minister, replacing George Papaconstantinou, who had become unpopular
after imposing budget cuts and tax hikes as part of last year's
110-billion-euro international bail out deal.
Venizelos, 57, a constitutional law professor, was once
Papandreou's biggest rival after challenging him for the leadership
of the Socialist party after it lost national elections in 2007.
He has previously held the posts of government spokesperson,
culture minister, development minister and justice minister.
"The country must be saved and it will be saved," Venizelos told
journalists.
The prime minister said the new cabinet will see through a
difficult programme of fiscal and structural reforms while at the
same time do more to stimulate growth.
"The finance minister will complete critical negotiations and
implement a particularly painful and difficult programme of great
structural changes, which will make our economy viable in the coming
years," Papandreou said in his first speech to his new cabinet.
Papaconstantinou has been appointed environment minister. Other
portfolios were redistributed to address demands for faster reforms
and party heavyweights were promoted to key posts at the expense of
Papandreou loyalists.
As part of the reshuffle, a new ministry was created to help
reduce the bloated public sector. Under the mid-term austerity plan
the government intends to reduce the 750,000-strong public service
sector down to a fifth.
The new cabinet was sworn in shortly after being named and a
confidence vote is scheduled to take place at midnight Tuesday.
The immediate task of the finance minister will be to press ahead
with a mid-term fiscal plan that foresees 28 billion euros in budget
cuts and tax hikes as well as a privatization drive worth 50 billion
euros.
Venizelos will also have to negotiate a crucial second bail out
package with the EU, European Central Bank and International Monetary
Fund (IMF).
The government is pushing to have the austerity package passed by
parliament by the end of June.
In a statement intended to ease market concerns, the European
Union's top economic official, Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli
Rehn, on Thursday said eurozone countries will likely agree on Sunday
to pay Greece its next rescue loan, saving it from the immediate risk
of default.
In Berlin, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel also said that there
appeared to be a greater chance that Greece will get a second bailout
after agreeing with French President Nicholas Sarkozy that private
investors should be part of the solution but that their participation
had to be on a "voluntary" basis.
The second bail out - thought to be worth about 80 to 120 billion
euros - is needed to keep Greece solvent beyond 2012, when coverage
from the current rescue package starts to tail off


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