If chosen as the head of an interim coalition government, the 65-year old economist will be tasked with approving the terms of a new international bailout that includes years of austerity and bank losses in billions, measures he had warned against when they were first announced.

Experts say Papademos' job will also include both restoring the confidence of Greece's rescuers in Europe, and persuading sceptics at home that a second bailout is something the country cannot survive without.

Papademos was governor of the Bank of Greece between 1994 and 2002, overseeing the country's transition from the drachma to the euro and advising George Papandreou, the country's outgoing Greek prime minister.

He has also held academic positions at Columbia University, Harvard University and the University of Athens and earned his PhD in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.