EUROZONE-GREECE/TSIPRAS Tsipras meets with top ministers on his last day in office

Record ID: 142274

  • Title: EUROZONE-GREECE/TSIPRAS Tsipras meets with top ministers on his last day in office
  • Date: 27th August 2015
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (AUGUST 27, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE CAR WITH GREEK PRIME MINISTER ALEXIS TSIPRAS ARRIVING TSIPRAS WALKING UP STEPS AND ENTERING OFFICE EXTERIOR OF PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE STATE MINISTER ALEKOS FLABOURARIS TALKING ON HIS CELL PHONE OUTSIDE THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE FLABOURARIS WALKING UP STEPS AND ENTERING OFFICE GREEK AND EU FLAG DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER YANNIS DRAGASAKIS WALKING UP STEPS AND ENTERING OFFICE ENERGY MINISTER PANOS SKOURLETIS ARRIVING FOR MEETING SKOURLETIS WALKING UP STEPS AND ENTERING OFFICE
  • Embargoed: 11th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVACQ1JZ1NFS3YK2F76E7WOMSWQP
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Outgoing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met with top government ministers on Thursday (August 27) on his last day in office as the country's premier.
    Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos is expected to call a snap election for next month on Thursday afternoon or at the latest, on Friday (August 28), ending fruitless coalition efforts among parties deeply divided over the country's new bailout, an official at the presidency said.
    Following last week's resignation of leftist Tsipras, Pavlopoulos asked a conservative and a radical left leader to try to form a new government and thereby avoid another election just seven months after the previous poll.
    The official stressed on Wednesday (August 26) that Pavlopoulos intended to appoint a caretaker premier, Supreme Court judge Vassiliki Thanou, on Thursday or Friday.
    Thanou would become Greece's first female prime minister, albeit briefly.
    Tsipras, who during his seven months in office took Greece to the brink of financial collapse and exit from the euro, resigned in the hope of crushing a far-left rebellion in his Syriza party and strengthening his grip on power through a snap election.
    Syriza says it is aiming for an outright majority, although the strength of its support is unclear due to a lack of surveys by leading pollsters in the past month. Last week, 25 out of Syriza's 149 lawmakers walked out to form a new anti-bailout party.
    Tsipras had to rely on temporary support from the opposition to get the 86 billion euro ($98 billion) bailout programme through parliament. Almost a third of Syriza lawmakers refused to back the programme, Greece's third since 2010, objecting to austerity and reform conditions demanded by its creditors from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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