Vital for Greece to stay within the eurozone

Greece's new coalition cabinet and Prime Minister-designate Lucas Papademos are due to be officially sworn in, after a week of political chaos. The new government's most pressing task is to approve Greece's recent EU bailout package and avoid bankruptcy.

Mr Papademos, who is not an elected MP, has said his priority will be to keep Greece in the eurozone. He is tasked with putting the debt-laden country back on track until elections, probably in February.

Outgoing Prime Minister George Papandreou was forced to step aside after a disastrous call for a referendum on the eurozone rescue package.

The referendum plan was dropped within a few days, but not before sparking a financial and political crisis that threatened to engulf the eurozone.

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Greece PM Papandreou wins Election

Greece's PM George Papandreou has won a vital confidence vote after promising to hold power-sharing talks.

In an address to parliament before the vote he ruled out snap elections, saying they would be "catastrophic".

He said he did not care about his post and the leadership of any government of national unity would be negotiable.

Mr Papandreou previously shocked EU partners and sent markets into turmoil after calling for a referendum on an EU deal to bail out debt-ridden Greece.

Mr Papandreou said the bail-out deal currently on offer by the EU had to be accepted, and it would be "historically irresponsible" to lose it.

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The French and German leaders emergency talks with Greece's PM

The euro zone planning to save Greece from bankruptcy is not up for renegotiation, Germany has warned, ahead of urgent talks with Greece and France.

Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said "[What] we just agreed last week cannot be placed back on the table". Greek PM George Papandreou is to meet France's Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany's Angela Merkel later on Thursday.

The meetings come a day after Mr Papandreou said Greece would hold a referendum on the euro zone rescue plan. Overnight, Greece's cabinet gave unanimous backing to Mr Papandreou's controverisial plan for a public vote, which could take place in December.

He told an emergency cabinet meeting a referendum would offer "a clear mandate" for austerity measures demanded by euro zone partners.

Earlier, stock markets recorded big drops amid shocked reactions in euro zone capitals to the referendum announcement.

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