Papandreou is not going anywhere, and he insists on a vote of confidence!

George Papandreou will carry on normally with the process of a vote of confidence in the government. He clarified this during his speech to the PASOK Parliamentary Group, stressing that afterwards consultation procedures will begin with ND in order to reach a consensus which the country will follow.

However, Education Minister Diamantopoulou clarified that there should be a new government of national responsibility, to which the PM answered that consensus procedures will follow.

On his part, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos stated that we must ensure government with a stable majority vote so as to further the consensual procedures, ratify the loan agreement with a qualified majority of 180 members and make the disbursement of the tranche possible.

The PM appeared more detached as far as the referendum goes, mentioning that “the decision whether or not to hold a referendum was ours. We may have economic patronage but democratic institutions are up to us”.

“The referendum is the answer to all scenarios within and outside Greece. I trust the wisdom and maturity of the Greek people. I deeply believe in democracy”, added the Prime Minister, underlining that when he announced the referendum, “the citizens saw that not only do we count on them, but also we give them the floor”.

Mr. Papandreou stressed that “we would pose the decisions of October 26th as the referendum question, but if the answer was ‘no’ then our partners would see the way opening up for our country to exit the euro”.

The PM wondered why the question of whether we want to stay in the euro or not, causes amazement, since the question of whether the country will be able to stay within the Eurozone has been in doubt since the start of the crisis.

“The referendum is a decisive answer to all scenarios, both inside and outside Greece, on the country’s exit from the euro”, he added.