A view of the cabinet meeting of his newly-appointed Greek government, at the parliament in central Athens, Friday, (AP).
On Friday Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou named a new cabinet, reaching across rival factions in the ruling Socialist party to quell dissent that threatened to burst into open revolt amid mounting anti-austerity protests.
Outgoing defence minister Evangelos Venizelos, a tough-talking party veteran who had challenged Papandreou for the party leadership in 2007, was promoted to the critical post of finance and also named deputy prime minister.
He replaced George Papaconstantinou, who was blasted by fellow party cadres for failing to jumpstart the economy after an 18-month effort.
The pro-government Ta Nea daily said "the new government must tackle the social unrest which is growing unceasingly and the pressure from abroad."
The new administration must "act quicker to overcome the economic impasse," it added.
Greece finds itself in a critical situation to secure new funds before its available resources run out next month, but the European Union and the International Monetary Fund demand action before extending additional aid.
The liberal Kathimerini daily said the new government line-up would respond to the anguish created by a medium-term budgetary plan for 2012-2015 which includes more austerity measures and is highly contested by the opposition and the unions.
"Papandreou has been forced to sacrifice some of his close aides," to renew his ruling Pasok socialist party, the paper said.
The reshuffle also saw deputy defence minister Panos Beglitis, another close aide of Papandreou, promoted to full minister.
Papandreou's government is locked in tough negotiations with its European peers for a new bailout after a previous EU-IMF rescue was deemed insufficient to get the recession-plagued Greek economy back on its feet.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy made a joint call Friday for a new rescue package for debt-ridden Greece to be agreed upon as quickly as possible.
Athens has warned it will be unable to pay next month's bills without a 12-billion-euro loan instalment from the EU and the IMF, part of a broader 110-billion-euro bailout package agreed last year.
The Kathimerini daily said "the effort to forge a national consensus with the opposition on the right must continue," after Papandreou and conservative party leader Antonis Samaras failed to reach agreement on economic policy
For the right-wing Eleftheros Typos "the new government is a short-term government and the prime minister must soon call early elections." The left-leaning Eleftherotypia said it doubted whether the government revamp would convince voters.
"The question is whether the new ministers can change the economic policy, as the people are calling for" and that's unlikely because that policy "is a condition for our creditor nations," of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, the daily added.
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