New Greek prime minister sworn in

Antonio Samaras of the New Democracy party became the fourth prime minister of Greece in 8 months at a brief ceremony held at the presidential palace Wednesday, June 20. His party forged a coalition with Socialists and the smaller Democratic Left, ending weeks of uncertainty. There were fears Greece would leave the eurozone and trigger a wider crisis in Europe. Greece has borne the brunt of a 5-year recession and its people have become resistant to austerity measures prescribed by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. The austerity measures were in exchange for a bailout that included an EU-IMF package worth 110 billion euros in 2010 and another 130 billion euros this year. Greece’s 107-billion euro debt, held by private investors, had also been written off. Coalition leaders said they hope to extricate Greece from the painful terms of the bailout.

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