Papandreou wins no confidence vote, but appears set to stand down

The political situation in Greece remains unclear this morning. George Papandreou’s government survived last night’s confidence vote. But the main opposition party has rejected the idea of a national government and Papandreou’s finance minister appears to be maneuvering to replace him.

Papandreou’s victory in the no confidence vote means that there probably won’t be elections in Greece this year. But the huge difficulties involved in implementing the austerity plan remain. The measures continue to command little public support and the opposition will continue to criticise them. The debt deal proposals will also have to win parliamentary approval at some point soon and the French and the Germans are, The Independent reports, demanding that this vote is won by a super-majority.

But I suspect there might be as much political action in Rome as in Athens over the next few days. Support appears to be slipping away from Silvio Berlusconi. But he is not the type to go down without a fight.