Dr Theofanis Exadaktylos, Lecturer in European Politics, comments: “The Greek political system has a poor record of coalition/cooperation governments: in fact any contemporary attempts have failed in producing a stable government scheme. However, this coalition is starting on the right foot: all sources seem to converge on the name of Loukas Papademos (former VP of the ECB) as the new interim PM. Not only does he have wide technocratic and administrative experience, but also carries the political clout necessary for negotiating with the EU. Evaggelos Venizelos (current VP of the Government and Minister of Finance) has to stay in his current position, as he was the main political figure involved in the negotiations for the new bailout agreement as well as the revised memorandum of understanding between Greece and its lenders. It has been suggested that the ministers of interior, defence, justice and public order will also change as a concession to the demands of the opposition party to join this unity government. The caveat in the success of this new government will be whether Mr. Samaras will in fact accept some of the political burden for his party given his previous stark opposition to the memorandum of understanding and to the character of the austerity measures, and not turn this into a vehicle for a longer-term electoral campaign.”