Papandreou to Cabinet: "Today I hand over my office"!

“I hand over the baton today in order for a government of broad consensus to be established”.

With these words, the PM officially brought up the issue of his resignation. He did not mention any names as far as his successor goes, but informed everyone that very soon, there would be a joint meeting between Papoulias, Papandreou and Samaras.

So, we will see billowing “smoke” after the meeting at the Presidential palace.

Members of the Cabinet agreed: Firstly, the process should end today, secondly there should be a completion of the enactment of the loan agreement before elections and thirdly, that he would not resign without a successor.  Furthermore, ministers noted that the government changes do not affect PASOK’s statutory provisions for the election of their leadership.

These developments are expected within the next hour.

At the same time, according to reliable information obtained by protothema.gr, former vice president of the ECB, Lucas Papademos, is on a flight to Athens.

The name of Mr. Papademos sounds like a strong possibility for the new PM’s position. To his interlocutors, Mr. Papademos had stated that he is unwilling to accept a proposal to take over as prime minister in a government of national salvation if the new scheme does not have New Democracy’s support.