GREECE
Papandreou Wins Confidence Vote
Thanassis Stavrakis / AP Photo
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, right, and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos react at the parliament in Athens, on Friday, Nov. 4, 2011. Greece's ruling Socialists were in open revolt against their own prime minister ahead of a confidence vote Friday, in a political free-for-all over a new European plan to keep the deeply indebted country afloat.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou won a vote of confidence Friday night, but sources told Reuters he planned to step down. Papandreou reportedly struck a deal with Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos to form a coalition government with the goal of getting Greece's Parliament to approve the hugely unpopular euro-zone bailout deal. Since Papandreou survived the confidence vote, there will be no snap elections—which could force Greece closer to default and could possibly hurt Greece’s chances of staying on the euro. Ahead of the vote, Papandreou gave an impassioned speech before Parliament where he said foreign leaders should have “faith” in Greece and “very soon we will give our country the position it deserves.” Under intense pressure from the European Union, Papandreou’s government abandoned plans to hold a referendum on EU bailout.