Greeks Hit Blocks in Bid to Name Government

The Wall Street Journal

By COSTAS PARIS and ALKMAN GRANITSAS

ATHENS—Greek politicians hit new roadblocks in their race to name an interim administration, tempering optimism that the country's main parties would name a new government by Monday.

The candidacy of former European Central Bank Vice President Lucas Papademos—who officials from the parties said earlier Monday was their consensus pick to lead the interim government—was facing new hurdles, said a senior official from Greece's ruling Socialist party, Pasok.

At issue, this official said, is a demand by Mr. Papademos that the new government should serve for a term of several months, longer than either the ruling Socialist government or the opposition New Democracy Party has envisioned for the interim government.

The two parties have agreed, in principle, to hold elections Feb. 19. But Mr. Papademos says the next government will need longer than that to implement a planned bond exchange program envisioned under Greece's latest bailout deal.

"At this moment, there is a problem with Mr. Papademos's candidacy, who is asking that the time frame for the next elections be pushed back," the official said. "However, this doesn't mean Mr. Papademos's candidacy is dead."

Mr. Papademos has also continued to demand that Greece's caretaker administration be led by politicians, rather than technocrats.

The leader of the conservative New Democracy party, Antonis Samaras, has refused to name any of its supporters to key ministries.

The fear of Mr. Samaras—whose party is now leading the Socialists in opinion polls and has called for immediate elections—is that putting key people in a cabinet tasked with adopting harsh austerity measures could cost his New Democracy party support in the next elections, officials from his party and Prime Minister George Papandreou's Socialist party said.

"Samaras insists on a government of technocrats, but he is under pressure by Papandreou to fully participate with party heavyweights in the new government," said a Socialist official with knowledge of the talks.

Mr. Papademos has refused to commit until an agreement on the cabinet is reached, according to Socialist and New Democracy officials.

On Sunday, the two parties agreed to form an interim national-unity government after a week of political turmoil in Athens that nearly toppled the government and raised questions about Greece's future in the euro zone.

The interim government is charged with implementing Greece's freshly minted €130 billion ($179 billion) aid deal before leading the country to fresh elections.

George Karatzaferis, leader of the small nationalist Laos party, said there was still no agreement on Mr. Papademos. "I was hoping that coming out of here I could say 'Habemus Papademos' but I can't say that yet," he said after a meeting with Greek President Karolos Papoulias.

An official in Mr. Papandreou's office said the outgoing prime minister talked with Mr. Samaras earlier Monday on the formation of the new government. "There will be more [calls] through the duration of the day," he said.

Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos—who attended a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers in Brussels on Monday that was expected to discuss whether to release Greece's next aid payment—is expected to stay on.

"There has to be continuity on who the euro zone is talking to," said the Pasok party official. "We strongly feel that Venizelos should continue as finance minister."

Over a weekend fraught with fast-paced political developments, Mr. Venizelos was also considered to serve as interim prime minister, something that some Socialist party members still favor. But other names are also being considered.

Besides Mr. Papademos, veteran diplomat Petros Molyviatis, who negotiated Greece's entry into the European Union, former European Commissioner Stavros Dimas and European Union Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamantouros are also said to be candidates. Both Mr. Molyviatis and Mr. Dimas are members of New Democracy, with Mr. Dimas still serving as vice president of the party.

A Pasok official said Mr. Diamantouros was first mentioned by Mr. Papandreou when he met Mr. Samaras on Sunday and "his name is still on the table."

However, the official said Mr. Diamantouros's response so far has been cool.

—Stelios Bouras in Athens contributed to this article.

Write to Costas Paris at costas.paris@dowjones.com and Alkman Granitsas at alkman.granitsas@dowjones.com