There will not be a governing gap

Papandreou’s resignation and the order to form a new government (under Papademos?) will both be included in the same presidential decree so that there won’t be a governing gap.

After the cabinet meeting, Papandreou is expected to go to the Presidential Palace to visit Papoulias. He will submit the waiver and inform him that he has agreed with Samaras on the formation of the new government led by a person of broad consensus.

Thus the process of exploratory mandates is avoided, so Papoulias will call on the new prime minister and give him a mandate to form the new government.

All this should be expected today. The swearing in will occur today or tomorrow so the rest of the processes will be transferred to parliament. Within 15 days the new government should receive a confidence vote by the whole parliament, but due to intense pressure the process will start immediately. So if the new government gets sworn in today or tomorrow, the policy statements will start tomorrow or Thursday.

It should be noted that the opening speech in the process of programming statements is given by the new prime minister, who also concludes the process so that the voting which will show whether the government enjoys the parliamentary confidence or not, might follow.

According to estimates, the new government will receive parliamentary ratification by the end of this week.