Greece’s prime minister won the backing of his cabinet on Wednesday to hold a referendum on a 130 billion euro bailout package but will find the stunned euro zone leaders who engineered the deal last week harder to convince. Some of his party lawmakers called for him to quit, accusing him of endangering Greek euro membership with his shock decision to call a popular vote, a move that pummelled the euro and global stocks. But the cabinet support at least gives him a stay of execution before a confidence vote in parliament on Friday. “The referendum will be a clear mandate and a clear message in and outside Greece on our European course and participation in the euro,” George Papandreou told a cabinet meeting that lasted seven hours, a statement from his office said.
“No one will be able to doubt Greece’s course within the euro.” After the show of unity at home, Papandreou will face the leaders of France and Germany, who summoned him for crisis talks in Cannes, before a G20 summit of major world economies, to push for quick implementation of the bailout deal. Papandreou’s gamble guarantees weeks of uncertainty just when the 17-nation European currency area is desperate for a period of calm to implement the remedies agreed to overcome its sovereign debt crisis.