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SOUND FAMILIAR? New leader, a former foreign minister, scion of a political family, takes over in wake of a corruption scandal with an economy tipping into recession after 15 successful years of growth. His first painful budget has to tackle the country’s ballooning deficit of over 6 per cent of GDP, double the EU limit. Unemployment at 9 per cent is rising sharply . . .

But George Papandreou, leader of Greece’s socialist Pasok party and winner by a landslide of the weekend’s general election, is no Brian Cowen. The US-educated Mr Papandreou, whose father and grandfather were also prime ministers, is currently head of the Socialist International, a sociologist by training, and an admirer of the Swedish social model. As foreign minister he engineered a breakthrough in the relationship with the country’s old enemy, Turkey.