In a good sign for Greece’s continued membership in the eurozone currency bloc, besieged Prime Minister Papandreou has survived a confidence vote in the Greek parliament with promises to form a unity government. To quote: “I have been in contact with the president and I will visit him tomorrow (Saturday) to inform him of my intentions and that I am moving forward with all the parties for a broader coalition government, and to agree on common goals, a timeframe and people, to agree on its composition and even the head of this coalition.” The leader of the opposition New Democracy Party has rejected Papandreou’s calls for a unity government and demanded immediate elections. Finance Minister Venizelos has confirmed with his counterparts in the rest of the eurozone that a referendum will not be held on the issue of the bailout package. All of these announcements and decisions occurred after the close of markets in acknowledgement of their sensitive and potentially chaos inducing nature. According to the BBC, a recent poll in a Greek newspaper found that the majority of the poll respondents, 70%, wanted to stay within the eurozone though there exists entrenched opposition to the austerity measures that would come along with acceptance of the bailout package. This latest twist is just another in the ongoing, sometimes byzantine, domestic power struggle within Greece that is having wide ranging implications for the eurozone partner states.

[BBC]