Lucas Papademos named Greek Prime Minister

Lucas Papademos will replace Prime Minister George Papandreou

Lucas Papademos will be Greece’s new prime minister.

AP reports that Papademos will be replacing Prime Minister George Papandreou halfway through Papandreou’s four-year term. As the site details, “Lucas Papademos, former vice president of the European Central Bank, must quickly secure the crucial loan installment without which his country will go bankrupt before Christmas, and approve the EU’s Oct. 26 €130 billion ($177 billion) bailout deal.”

On Thursday, Papademos called for unity and vowed to seek cross-party cooperation to keep Greece in the eurozone.

“The participation of our country in the eurozone is a guarantee for the country’s monetary stability. It is a driver of financial prosperity,” Papademos said. “I am not a politician, but I have dedicated most of my professional life to exercising financial policy both in Greece and in Europe.”

The new Greek cabinet will be sworn in on Friday.

News of Papademos’ appointment caused shares to rise 1.6 percent.