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New Greek cabinet to be sworn in

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s incoming prime minister is due to name his cabinet Friday, a day after being appointed to head an interim coalition government that will push through a new European debt deal and secure continued bailout funding to prevent a catastrophic default.

Former European Central Bank vice president Lucas Papademos held talks with the country’s main political parties late into Thursday night to determine who would staff his cabinet, ahead of the formal swearing in Friday afternoon.

The appointments are a delicate balancing act for Papademos as he seeks broad support for his administration. The swearing-in ceremony was delayed by two hours to 4 p.m. (1400GMT), the president’s office said, without giving a reason.

Papademos’ appointment capped two weeks of a political crisis that threatened to derail an EU plan to get a grip on the Greek debt crisis and raised questions about the country’s continued presence in the eurozone.

“The participation of our country in the eurozone is a guarantee for the country’s monetary stability. It is a driver of financial prosperity,” the incoming premier said Thursday after being given the mandate to form a government.

Papademos must now implement the terms of Greece’s latest debt deal — a euro130 billion ($177 billion) agreement reached on Oct. 27. It includes provisions for private bondholders to forgive 50 percent — or some euro100 billion — of their Greek debt holdings.

 

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