WORLD : Papandreou Talk With Communists Fails to Break Nine-Day Deadlock
Ailing Premier Andreas Papandreou today failed to gain Communist support in forming a coalition government that would lead Greece out of a nine-day political deadlock.
Negotiations between the premier’s Panhellenic Socialist Movement and the Communist-led Coalition of the Left and Progress ended at noon without an agreement.
Papandreou, who met with the Communists for an hour, was forced to appoint a representative to negotiate on his behalf. The 70-year-old premier was admitted to General State Hospital on Thursday with pneumonia he contracted eight months after undergoing heart surgery.
Papandreou is heading a caretaker government because no party received a majority in elections on June 18 to the 300-seat Parliament.
After the meeting today, Communist Party leader Harilaos Florakis said that the Socialist proposals “were equally interesting” as those made to him last week by the conservatives, who finished first in the elections but failed to build a coalition. Florakis did not disclose the proposals. The conservative New Democracy Party had proposed a government in which the leftists would control the justice and interior ministries.
If the three major parties cannot form a coalition government, new elections will be called.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
