Greek Party Leaders Discuss Papademos as New PM

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and opposition leader Antonis Samaras discussed late on Wednesday the possibility of former ECB Vice President Lucas Papademos becoming head of a new coalition government to save the country from bankruptcy, a government official said on Thursday.

Papandreou told Samaras he accepted the terms that Papademos has set to become Greece's new prime minister and urged the opposition leader to also contact the former ECB official, the official told Reuters, requesting anonymity.

Papademos has made his candidacy for the premiership conditional on both major political parties signing up to a euro zone bailout deal and a more flexible duration for his administration, a government source told Reuters late on Wednesday.