A very difficult year is ahead of us. We must continue our efforts with decisiveness, to stay in the euro, to make sure we do not waste the sacrifices and do not turn the crisis into an uncontrolled and disastrous bankruptcy.

He is a member of the Academy of Athens. During his time as Governor of the national bank Papademos was involved in Greece's transition from the drachma to the euro as its national currency. Emergency negotiations to attempt to avoid a return to the polls took place on 13 May but were inconclusive.

He was previously the Governor of the Bank of Greece from 1994 to 2002 before leaving to become Vice President of the European Central Bank from 2002 to 2010. He also spent time as a Visiting Professor of Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Financial Studies at the University of Frankfurt. Lucas Demetrios Papademos (Greek: Λουκάς Παπαδήμος; born 11 October 1947) is a Greek economist who was the Prime Minister of Greece from 2011 to 2012 leading a government of national unity in the wake of the Greek debt crisis.