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Twenty-four hours after the Greek prime minister has announced his intention to organize a referendum on ratification of the new bailout, Greece is expecting him and his government to resign. George Papandreou’s decision the Greeks to assess the plan adopted last week has unleashed a stream of political events, which seem that will take the government to its end.

Now, there is a meeting of the Council of Ministers and no political analyst is able to foresee the outcome. George Papandreou is under pressure to withdraw from power, and not only by his political opponents. Six members of the National Council of the ruling PASOK party and the young deputy Eva Kaili demanded the resignation of the prime minister and earlier, the party's parliamentary group remained with 152 members after the former Minister of Agriculture Milena Apostolaki had left it, without passing forward her deputy’s place.

In case the prime minister stands until Friday, when the confidence vote is planned, only two negative votes of PASOK members will be needed to oust his government. On the other hand, it is almost certain that if it comes to that, George Papandreou will not have the support of another deputy - Vasso Papandreou, who urged President Karolos Papoulias to take the initiative to form a government of national salvation, "because of the risk the country to fail." Indicative of the chaos in the cabinet and the ruling party is the fact that associates of the vice president of the government and minister of finance Evangelos Venizelos have announced that he knew nothing about the intention of the prime minister to call a referendum. According to some commentators, it is possible the minister to demand the resignation of George Papandreou and assume the party leadership. Others expect political initiatives by the three ministers Anna Diamantopoulou, Andreas Loverdos and Yannis Ragousis who two weeks ago, released a common text calling for changes. Many analysts have defined their action as undermining for the prime minister.

Although until now the possibility of holding a referendum continues to exist at least formally, the opposition is determined not to allow it to happen. After his meeting with President Karolos Papoulias earlier today, New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras said that early elections was a matter of national importance. "We are determined to do whatever is necessary not to allow the European perspective and the future of the country be affected in any way," said Antonis Samaras, without specifying what the next moves of the main opposition party would be. Currently, New Democracy is awaiting the developments in the government. In case it does not resign, it is expected that Antonis Samaras would call for elections when all members of his party give up their parliamentary mandates.

It is very likely members of the far-right LAOS party, whose leader George Karatzaferis has asked to meet Antonis Samaras, to respond similarly. He made a public appeal to President Papoulias to form a government of national salvation or call for early elections in November, with the consent of the leaders of political forces.

The leaders of Democratic Alliance Dora Bakogiannis and Fotis Kouvelis from Democratic Left have demanded the resignation of the government and early elections.

All European media that are following very closely the developments in the Greek capital predict the end of George Papandreou’s government. According to the economic edition Financial Times, the government of George Papandreou could fall tonight. The French newspaper Le Figaro defined the actions of the Greek prime minister as "suicidal."

Whether they would prove to be disastrous for Greece is not yet clear, but certainly, they have managed to cause a huge upheaval in the global economy. Today, the Athens Stock Exchange index fell by 7% and banks are in a freefall. The German DAX fell almost 5%, similar are the losses of the French CAC 40. The London Stock Exchange losses are within about 3%. Amid the turmoil, Greek government sources said that the French Presidency has made a call to George Papandreou to attend the summit of the leaders of the 20 most powerful economies in the world in Cannes, which will discuss the issues and events related to the Greek debt.

At the same time, negative feedback from other European capitals continues. The Irish Minister for European Affairs expressed her dissatisfaction with the cabinet in Dublin concerning the decision to hold a referendum in Greece, which would take the eurozine efforts to solve the debt crisis back to their starting point.

The minister said for Reuters that the summit, held last week aimed to deal with uncertainty in the eurozone and this bomb fell a few days later. Naturally, it would cause unrest. According to her, in case the Greek citizens vote for the agreement, the lonely journey of George Papandreou would cause a long period of uncertainty that would adversely affect the financial markets and economic development. She added that the damage would be caused from now until then and that it was hard to do something positive. Some centre-left parties in Ireland have suggested that the government follows the Greek prime minister to call a referendum on the plan of salvation of Dublin. The Minister however rejected this possibility and said that the parliamentary elections that took place earlier this year have allowed citizens to decide on the package for the rescue of the country.