Athens, Greece (CNN) -- Greece plans to swear in a
new unity government Friday led by economist Lucas Papademos as the
nation seeks to regain political and financial stability after days of
uncertainty.
Papademos, a former banker and European Central Bank vice president,
takes on as the country's interim prime minister after four days of
political wrangling.
The exact make-up of his Cabinet has not been announced.
Once the new ministers are sworn in at the presidential mansion, they
are expected to head to the Greek parliament. The Cabinet is expected
to hold its first meeting after that.
Papademos pledged the new government's chief task will be to
implement a bailout package and austerity measures agreed to with
European leaders last month.
He also restated Greece's commitment to the euro, saying its
membership of the eurozone, the 17 nations that use the euro as
currency, was a guarantee of financial stability.
It is hoped that the national unity government will restore political
stability in Greece after several days of turmoil that have unnerved
global financial markets.
Papademos, who helped usher Greece into the euro in 2001, replaces
outgoing Prime Minister George Papandreou, who resigned over his
handling of the crisis.
The new government will be sworn in at 2 p.m. local time, the
president's office said Friday. Fresh elections are likely in February.
Papademos said the government's formation would allow Greece to "face the problems in the near future in the best possible way."
The country is "at a critical crossroads," the 64-year-old said, and
the choices it makes and policies it implements "will have a crucial
importance for the welfare of the Greek people."
Papademos said Greece's course would not be easy, but that the
country's problems would be solved -- and that would happen "sooner, at a
lower cost and in a more efficient way, if there is unity, consensus
and reasonableness."
He said he had accepted the president's mandate to form a unity
government because he felt everyone should contribute to the country's
recovery. "The task is big, and the responsibility I assume is even
bigger," he said.
Greece's new government must act quickly to ratify the latest
European bailout package to ensure the next tranche of money from a 2010
deal is released.
Papademos, an economics professor at Harvard University, was the
governor of the Bank of Greece when the country adopted the euro in
2001.
He has advised Papandreou on economic matters for the past two years, the Athens News Agency reported.
A native of Athens, Papademos studied at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology in the 1970s, earning undergraduate and graduate degrees
before receiving a doctorate in economics, the news agency said. He has
taught economics at Columbia University and the University of Athens.
The outgoing prime minister triggered the political crisis by
announcing plans last week to call a referendum on the bailout deal.
The drama in Greece has shaken international markets, with investors
afraid the new bailout deal -- which has stringent austerity measures
attached -- may not be implemented.
CNN's Elinda Labropoulou and Andrew Carey contributed to this report.
