Hopes rise for Greece power-sharing talks
Source: Reuters
Hopes rise for Greece power-sharing talks
AP foreign, Thursday May 10 2012
NICHOLAS PAPHITIS
Associated Press= ATHENS, Greece (AP) Hopes rose slightly Thursday that Greece could end its post-electoral deadlock without having to hold new elections, as international partners warned that Athens must stick to its hugely unpopular austerity program or abandon the euro.
Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos, who received the presidential mandate to try and form a government after two other party chiefs failed, said a meeting Thursday with a left-wing potential kingmaker had proved encouraging.
If this third mandate fails, President Karolos Papoulias will convene party leaders in a last-ditch effort to get a deal otherwise new elections will be held in a month.
New elections would greatly delay Greece's commitments to pass further austerity measures and reforms, without which creditors will cut off the country's rescue loan lifeline. If Greece runs out of cash, it could be forced to leave the euro, reverting to a grossly devalued version of its old drachma currency and facing long years of misery.
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