Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, a son and grandson of premiers, finally had to make way after an epic struggle for survival in the face of a crippling, humiliating debt crisis.
After crunch talks between Papandreou’s camp and the opposition, the Greek presidency announced on Sunday that a deal was agreed for a new government to be formed immediately, without the incumbent prime minister.
When he took the helm two years ago, Papandreou wanted to cure Greece of endemic corruption and turn it into a modern state but the southern European country’s debt burden soon caught up with him.
Last week, he sparked global panic with a call to put a crucial and hard-fought EU rescue deal to a referendum, only to go back on his plan after a humiliating dressing-down by European leaders at G20 talks on Wednesday.
Thirty years after his father took power promising to pull Greece out of the EU, the pro-European Papandreou came closer than his father ever did to achieving just that by attempting to cling to his job.
He won a vote of confidence on Saturday but only on the promise that he would form a unity government and his demise was eventually met with widespread relief as it granted Greece some reprieve from looming bankruptcy and the eurozone a chance to avert disaster.
The 59-year-old had built a reputation as a determined fighter, weathering two electoral defeats before sweeping to power in a landslide in October 2009 on a ticket of reform.
But the Greek press and Papandreou’s rivals rounded on the leader of the socialist PASOK party as his political fortunes become increasingly precarious.
The leftist Eleftherotypia branded Papandreou, whose father and grandfather were both prime ministers, “the Lord of Chaos”.
Papandreou had faced increasing dissent within his own party over the tougher austerity policy monitored by the EU and the IMF that has sparked general strikes and widespread protests in Greece, many of them violent.
“I would not wish my worst enemy to face what I’m going through,” Papandreou said in an interview in June.
“We are in a singular state of war, one that demands a titanic effort and nerves of steel,” he told To Vima daily.
Papandreou, born in the US state of Minnesota to an American mother, has long fought to win the hearts of Greeks, many of whom still see him as an American import.
He had previously served as education minister and deputy foreign minister in his father Andreas’s 1993-1996 government, before a five-year term as foreign minister under Costas Simitis, having turned his back on the PASOK party’s old guard.
During his stint as Greece’s top diplomat he became known for achieving detente with Greece’s arch rival Turkey and its Balkan neighbours. He has led the Socialist party since 2004.
Although many of his fellow countrymen criticise him for a lack of charisma, the bald-headed moustachioed PM gained stature over the course of the current financial crisis as he shuttled between various European capitals, seeking help from his peers.
Nicknamed “Yorgakis” (“Little George”) by Greeks, the father of two has gained respect even in conservative opposition ranks for his tenacity, integrity and his determination to avoid a humiliating bankruptcy for his country.
But many socialist voters have never forgiven Papandreou’s decision to sacrifice his election promises and accept deeply unpopular cuts in wages and pensions in order to clinch help from the EU and IMF.
Some of his political adversaries and hardline Greek nationalists criticise him for having submitted to foreign control and losing financial autonomy.
But despite a huge effort last year, deficit goals were ultimately missed and Greece’s economic fortunes once again hang in the balance, with the Greek debt exploding to 350 billion euros ($A466.51 billion).
