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Antonis Samaras leaving the Greece's Presidential Palace on Sunday. AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis/PA Images

Greek opposition leader battling for PM spot - but who is he?

Some background info on the man pushing for power as PM Papandreou steps back.

AFTER ALMOST A WEEK of ‘will he, won’t he’, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has agreed to step down to facilitate the creation of a new national unity government until elections can be held early next year.

One of the main contenders aiming to step forward and fill the PM’s position today is opposition leader Antonis Samaras – but who is he? Here’s some background on the man who may become the next Greek PM:

  • Former economist Samaras is the current leader of the centre-right conservative party New Democracy.
  • Born in 1951, he studied at Athens College before heading to the US for an undergraduate degree in economics at the Economics University of Amherst and an MBA at Harvard.
  • He and Papandreou were close friends during their time studying at Amherst together, according to MSNBC.
  • He was first elected to parliament in 1977 and served as the minister for finance and minister of foreign affairs in the 80s and 90s. He was taken off the foreign affairs portfolio in 1992 over a controversy surrounding Greece’s opposition to the name of neighbouring country Macedonia.
  • Samaras subsequently set up a rival party and the Greek government collapsed in 1993 when several MPs left it for Samaras’ new party.
  • However, he later rejoined New Democracy and was elected an MEP for the party in 2004, but resigned this when re-elected to parliament in 2007. He became his party’s president almost two years ago.
  • He was highly critical of the latest EU debt deal for Greece, saying: ”We are not closer to the solution, but are faced with nine more years of collapse and poverty. Neither the economy nor society can withstand this.”

More recently, Samaras has been particularly prominent in calling for Papandreou’s resignation, saying that the way the prime minister handled the referendum proposal showed he does not understand how to handle such serious issues either domestically or internationally.

Papandreou and Samaras are meeting today to iron out the details on a joint agreement to form a caretaker government until an election in mid-February.

- Additional reporting by the AP

Read more: Greek leaders continue talks, with only five weeks worth of cash left >

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4 Comments
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    Mute Jim Lenihan
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    Nov 11th 2013, 11:16 PM

    Well done to asti they stood up to this evil government

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    Mute Liam H
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    Nov 11th 2013, 11:44 PM

    Let’s hope they continue to do so.

    Asking the membership to vote on the SAME issue for a third time in quick succession would be a disgrace & if it happens, many members will stop paying their union subs.

    Listen to your membership, not this toxic government with their acts of coercion they call “agreements”

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    Mute Chris Matthews
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    Nov 11th 2013, 11:43 PM

    They should be ashamed of them selves lazy sods

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    Mute Liam H
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    Nov 11th 2013, 11:46 PM

    To whom are you referring?

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    Mute Kenneth
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    Nov 12th 2013, 12:18 AM

    Never met a non lazy union member

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    Mute Kenneth
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    Nov 12th 2013, 12:17 AM

    Fire them 10 at a time until they mend their ways and egos

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    Mute Kevin O'Connor
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    Nov 11th 2013, 10:27 PM

    Probably just a bowel movement.

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    Mute Michael Hegarty
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    Nov 11th 2013, 10:53 PM

    A1

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    Mute Christy Brady
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    Nov 11th 2013, 11:03 PM

    ASTI realises it is out on a limb,looking at Quinner with the saw.

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    Mute andrew
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    Nov 11th 2013, 11:12 PM

    Hardly. Quinn wouldn’t know how to use a saw. A sledgehammer is more his style

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    Mute Mark Campbell
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    Nov 12th 2013, 7:41 AM

    These teaches sicken me and any other hard working person in ireland. They don’t even know how easy they have it.

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    Mute Katie Did Next
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    Nov 13th 2013, 8:24 AM

    Wbat plandt are you on?? imagine dealing with likes of you tines 30!

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    Mute Shane Cassidy
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    Nov 12th 2013, 7:04 AM

    Why do I think this is the union leadership (clueless of the realities of teaching) are selling us down the river !!

    Can’t see how they can change the croke park/ haddington road deal sufficiently to make me want to vote for it ! The ability to carte blanche changes to my contract on the future without negotiation is enough of a reason to say no – no private sector worker would accept it so why should I !!

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    Mute Niall H
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    Nov 12th 2013, 7:19 AM

    If they try to re-ballot us yet again then that will signal the end of the Asti as a union because they will not have any members left

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    Mute Rufus Hound
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    Nov 12th 2013, 12:30 AM

    Kenneth’s obviously just a troll; don’t feed him!

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    Mute Roibeard Mac An TSionnaigh
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    Nov 12th 2013, 12:59 AM

    A slave more like

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    Mute Alan O'connor
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    Nov 12th 2013, 8:05 AM

    Perfectly happy with the status quo. No to Haddington Road. No to pointless Croke Park hours. No to unpaid S and S. No to any further erosion of our terms of employment.

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    Mute Connaughtabu
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    Nov 12th 2013, 3:28 AM

    No escalation in industrial action by the ASTI members, yet Min Quinn has not introduced legislation to block supervision & substitution payments that TUI members no longer receive.

    The “open-day season” has come and gone and complaints by irate parents seem to have died down.

    All quiet on the Western Front?

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    Mute DesBod
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    Nov 12th 2013, 8:34 AM

    If ASTI unwilling to perform their jobs to the required standard, they should all be replaced. Plenty if NQTs who can’t get a sniff of a job. I’m sure they would be willing to perform the tasks required of them. ASTI are out of touch with reality. Hiding behind this “out of concern for the children” rubbish. They are only concerned with feathering their own nests. Given that they have 4.5 months holiday, their pay per hour actually worked is one of the highest in the state, yet still they think they are entitled to be shielded from the recession. Why?……..because they have an Arts degree?

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    Mute Ciarán Masterson
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    Nov 11th 2013, 11:57 PM

    The ASTI members would have been better off renouncing the supervision-and-substitution payments and refusing to the Croke Park/Haddington Road hours.

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    Mute Liam H
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    Nov 12th 2013, 12:07 AM

    Possibly, but then schools would have closed, something most teachers don’t want to see happen, I know I don’t.

    They’ve imposed draconian measures on us, grand, now feck off and let us teach, unless they want meaningful conversation on JC reform & “extra hours”

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    Mute Ciarán Masterson
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    Nov 12th 2013, 6:24 PM

    @Liam H

    “but then schools would have closed”

    Not necessarily. What I meant is that they could do S&S without payment. S&S are hardly stressful tasks. Schools have a duty of care towards pupils.

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    Mute Anthony Quinn
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    Nov 12th 2013, 7:13 AM

    Your being led into a dead end
    By noise makers and lads that dont
    Seem to grasp the reality of the situation.

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    Mute Steven Doyle
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    Nov 12th 2013, 11:41 AM

    If only the.private sector enjoyed the same protection. . But hey. .divide and conquer

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    Mute Shane Cassidy
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    Nov 12th 2013, 1:00 PM

    If only the public sector could get the same wage increases as the private sector received!!

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    Mute Citizen Keen
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    Nov 12th 2013, 9:04 AM

    Here here Des !!!!!

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    Mute Anthony Quinn
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    Nov 12th 2013, 2:13 PM

    Ill put it another way to these
    Lads..enough faffing around
    All out strike or take your bite
    Of the huge shit sandwich
    Like everybody else

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