Papademos named new Greek PM: state agency

Former European Central Bank vice-president Lucas Papademos will be Greece's new interim prime minister, the semi-state Athens News Agency said on today.

Former European Central Bank vice-president Lucas Papademos will be Greece's new interim prime minister, the semi-state Athens News Agency said on Thursday.

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ANA released a profile of 64-year-old Papademos, calling him the "new prime minister-in-waiting" as an imminent announcement was expected from talks on a new unity government.

Papademos earlier on Thursday arrived at the presidential mansion, where the country's two top parties and a smaller nationalist party were in meeting with head of state President Carolos Papoulias to agree on a new cabinet.

The talks have dragged on for four days amid increasing impatience from Greece's European peers and the International Monetary Fund, and with limited time to save the country from bankruptcy before its reserves run out next month.

The new government faces a slew of challenges, starting with the ratification of a crucial EU bailout deal that will unlock badly-needed loans.

It must also organise early elections to pull the country out of political deadlock but is bound by creditor agreements to continue an unpopular austerity policy that has plunged Greece into a deep recession.