Crisis management and bailouts

On 23 April 2010 during a visit at the island of Kastelorizo, Papandreou issued a statement to the press that he instructed the Finance Minister to officially ask the EU partners to activate the support mechanism, 'an unprecedented mechanism in the history and practice of the European Union'.The support mechanism, which was put in place by the European heads of state and government and further elaborated by Euro Group ministers, is a European mechanism to which the IMF is associated with financing and it involves a comprehensive three-year economic program and financing conditions. On 23 April 2010, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that Greece made a request for a Stand-By Arrangement. Greece's sovereign debt crisis, which is considered as part of the European sovereign debt crisis is marked by massive strikes and demonstrations.
On an opinion poll published on 18 May 2011, 77% of the people asked said they have no faith in Papandreou as Prime Minister in handling the Greek economic crisis.
On 25 May 2011 the Real Democracy Now! movement started protesting in Athens and other major Greek cities. At the time, the peaceful protests were considered to be a sign of popular rejection of Mr. Papandreou and his government's economic policies,with as much as three quarters of the Greek population being against the policies of the Papandreou government. Among the demands of the demonstrations at Athens's central square, who claim to have been over 500,000 at one point, is the resignation of Papandreou and his government.
In the early hours of 22 June, George Papandreou and his government narrowly survived a vote of confidence in the Greek parliament, with 155 of the 300 seats in parliament. His government held 152 seats.
On 17 September, he cancelled a visit to the IMF building in Washington D.C and the UN Headquarters in New York City amid mounting concern over the country's debt crisis.
An opinion poll by Public Issue on behalf of Skai TV and Kathimerini in October 2011 showed that Papandreou's popularity has dropped considerably.Of the people asked, only 23% had a positive view of George Papandreou, while 73% had a negative opinion; ranking him lower than any other leader of a party in the Hellenic Parliament. Papandreou also ranked low on the question of who is more suitable for Prime Minister, with just 22%, as both Antonis Samaras (28%) and "neither" (47%) ranked higher than him.

George Papandreou and Antonis Samaras with Karolos Papoulias, the President of Greece, on 6 November 2011 discussing the formation of a caretaker government.

On 26 October 2011, the European Summit agreed to hand to the Greek government the Sixth Tranche of € 8 billion bailout early in the 2012, while the private-sector banks, the holders of Greek debt, have agreed to a 50% haircut on their outstanding Greek government bonds.
On 28 October 2011, during the national day parade, protesters blocked the parades, forcing the President of Greece and other officials to leave.
On 31 October, Papandreou announced his government's intentions to hold a referendum for the acceptance of the terms of a eurozone bailout deal. The referendum was to be held in December 2011 or January 2012. On 3 November, however, Papandreou scrapped the plan, following vehement opposition both within and outside the country. On 5 November, his government narrowly won a confidence vote in parliament.
On 6 November, Papandreou met with opposition leaders to try to reach an agreement on the formation of an interim government. A day earlier, the leader of the opposition New Democracy party Antonis Samaras had rejected the proposal and called for an immediate election.