Papandreou's Ides of March

Pasok president and former premier George Papandreou proposed on Saturday that party elections for new president should take place in March, according to the socialist party's charter. He also said he will not accept any 'deviation'.   Papandreou said the date of the election will come before pending national elections, expected to take place before the end of April. A party congress will follow in June, he said.   He called the party members to show a spirit of unity and to put aside their personal interests before the country's interest.   Papandreou, who unceremoniously resigned as prime minister last November and is being pressured to leave Pasok's helm as well, referred to the two years of his tenure and the difficulties he faced and acknowledged numerous mistakes, while asking that the government's overall efforts should not be overlooked. He laid blame on the previous New Democracy government for the collapse of the Greek economy during his watch, as well as what he called "conservative Europe", which he said delayed in taking mandatory decisions.   Papandreou, the son and grandson of Greek prime ministers, said the deep austerity measures taken by his government prevented the country's sovereign default. Moreover, he said he "fought against vested interests" that battled against him, his government as well as his family.   Concluding, he reiterated that he offered his total support to Lucas Papademos' interim government, which must succeed in its mission and linked this success with the timetable of Pasok's internal processes, in order to avoid complications. (AMNA)