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Anastasia Balezdrova 

At the beginning of his conversation with president Carlos Papoulias, LAOS party leader George Kartzaferis referred to the name of the man tipped for future Prime Minister of Greece, Lucas Papademos.

"Mr. President, I hoped I could say "Habemus Papademum" when leaving but there is no such news for now," he said, rephrasing the familiar phrase "Habemus Papam", which is heard after the appearance of white smoke from the chimney of the Vatican.

"It seems to still be being brooded over," said the Greek President smiling to get George Karatzaferis’ answer, "It seems that brooding is a bit painful, but let us wish for a smooth birth."

Then, the two men withdrew to talk without the presence of the media. About 40 minutes later, George Karatzaferis left the presidential building and said that his party would support the future coalition government of Greece.

"For 18 months now we have been proposing a government of national salvation. Eventually, we have come to a joint government of PASOK and New Democracy, but this decision is better than nothing." However, he has set three conditions to support the new coalition government in full. "We say 'no' to new cuts in wages and pensions, to the loss of our national sovereignty and the looting of state property." In addition, George Karatzaderis has called the "fellow partner" in the composition of the cabinet, Antonis Samaras, to seek annulment of the law granting Greek citizenship to immigrants, which the PASOK government had adopted at the beginning of its term.

Thus, LAOS has become the only parliamentary force, outside the two main ones, that supports the future coalition government. The Democratic Alliance of Dora Bakogiannis has expressed its support too.

Despite the optimism following last night's agreement between George Papandreou and Antonis Samaras to form a government of national unity, the positions of both parties are still quite different. Antonis Samaras insists that the cabinet should not involve members of New Democracy and even Stavros Dimas’ application for the post of deputy prime minister is still in question. PASOK, in turn, believes that there should be a representative of the right at least in the Ministry of Finance and not just a companion to the Minister, but his deputy. According to some sources, the first "clouds" in the negotiations appeared last night during the meeting of the two men in the presence of president Karolos Papoulias.

At the same time, it became clear that the alleged future Prime Minister Lucas Papademos had landed in Athens at 17:00. Commentators believe that he would ask to play a crucial role in the composition of the administration of some critical ministries to ensure that the government would fulfill its role completely.

An hour ago, George Papandreou and Antonis Samaras spoke on the phone and the talks between the two party headquarters continue. Earlier, the Greek Prime Minister had telephone conversations with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and the President of the euro zone, Jean-Claude Juncker to inform them of the developments in the country.

According to sources, Angela Merkel said that Greece has made significant steps and expressed her desire for the new government to firmly undertake the tasks it must perform.

"Mrs. Merkel told the Greek Prime Minister that she appreciated very much what had been achieved and congratulated him for the courage and strength of his convictions," said the representative of the German Chancellor Stefan Zaybert during a regular press conference.