New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras is sworn in as Greece's new prime minister during a ceremony at the presidental palace in Athens on June 20, 2012. 
Pasok party leader Evangelos Venizelos arrives for a meeting with New Democracy leader, Antonis Samaras at the Greek Parliament in Athens on June 20, 2012. Greece's three main pro-euro parties reached a deal to form a new Greek government on Wednesday. 
Venizelos, right, shakes hands with the leader of the Democratic Party of the Left, Fotis Kouvelis, at the Greek parliament on June 19, 2012. Venizelos said discussions would continue Wednesday into the exact makeup of the new government. 
People read newspapers which detail the coalition talks on June 19. Greece hasn't had an elected government for 223 days. 
Children carry free vegetables donated by farmers from the Island of Crete in cooperation with the municipality of Athens, in Athens on June 20, 2012. The new coalition will have to deal with a devastating economic crisis. 
Greek President Karolos Papoulias, right, meets New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras before he receives a mandate to form a government on June 18 in Athens. 
Antonis Samaras, right, meets with Greece's Syriza party leader Alexis Tsipras in an attempt to form a coalition government Monday. Tsipras immediately announced the party would go into opposition rather than support Samaras. 
The Athens stock exchange on June 18, 2012. The election victory of the pro-bailout New Democracy party eased fears of a Greek eurozone exit and brought relief to world markets. 
New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras smiles at supporters in Athens on Sunday, June 17. His center-right, pro-bailout party came out on top in the country's parliamentary elections. 
A New Democracy supporter celebrates as he watches the exit polls at the party's election campaign kisok in Athens. 
Alexis Tsipras, the head of Greece's leftist Syriza party, greets supporters after a second-place finish on Sunday. He vowed to continue fighting against restrictive European bailouts. 
The ashes of a burned ballot box remain on the floor at a polling station in central Athens. A masked group stormed the room and lit the box full of ballots on fire just before the end of voting on Sunday. 
A woman, surrounded by media, casts her vote at a polling station in Athens. 
A man ponders the electoral board at a polling station in Athens before voting Sunday. 
Alexis Tsipras, the candidate of Greece's Syriza party, casts his vote in the second round of general elections at a polling station in Athens on Sunday. 
A night before the election, a changing of the guards takes place in front of the Greek parliament in central Athens on Saturday, June 16. 
A firefighter works on extinguishing a brush fire in the eastern Athens area of Keratea. Two brush fires broke out in Greece on Saturday, including one near seaside resorts close to Athens, just a day ahead of crucial elections. 
The Parthenon temple is seen on the skyline of Athens. 
- NEW: Greece swears in its new Cabinet, bringing an end to months of political uncertainty
- National bank Chairman Vasilis Rapanos takes the key finance minister post
- The new government intends to push for a renegotiation of some terms of the bailout deal
- The Greek crisis threatens European economic stability
Whether you live in Greece or abroad, tell us how the debt crisis is affecting your life.
Athens, Greece (CNN) -- Greece swore in a new Cabinet on Thursday, putting an elected government in charge of the country for the first time in 224 days.
The new governing coalition is made up of three parties: the center-right New Democracy, which placed first in Sunday's vote; Pasok; and the Democratic Party of the Left.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras appointed Vassilis Rapanos, chairman of the Greek National Bank, to the key finance minister post.
Dimitris Avramopoulos becomes foreign minister, while Panagiotis Panagiotopoulos takes the role of defense minister, and Evripidis Stylianidis heads up the interior ministry.
New Democracy lawmakers dominate the 38-member government, with only a handful of representatives coming from Pasok and the Democratic Left.
Samaras, who heads New Democracy, met with the heads of his two coalition partners, Evangelos Venizelos of Pasok and Fotis Kouvelis of the Democratic Party of the Left, earlier Thursday, the broadcaster reported.
The new governing coalition, which has pledged to push for a renegotiation of some of the painful austerity measures imposed under the terms of an international bailout, will face significant challenges.
The country is struggling to get out of the political and financial mire that threatens to drag down Europe's common currency and spark a new global financial crisis.
"Greece has a government. ... That is the message that we need to send abroad," Venizelos said as he announced the deal in a televised statement Wednesday.
Vassilis Monastiriotis of the Hellenic Observatory at the London School of Economics predicted that the international community will show patience with the new Greek government at least until September, not least because any alternative would be far more radical and anti-European.
But, he said, "There's no decision about how (they) actually deal with the immediate problems of acute poverty in parts of society and problems of tax collection."
Greece will go to a summit of European leaders in Brussels, Belgium, next week, determined to push them to renegotiate the terms of Greece's unpopular international bailout, most likely by extending the timetable for certain elements.
While few specifics are known, all three parties are keen to renegotiate a provision under which Greece's current minimum wage of 750 euros a month (about $950) would be cut by 22%, Monastiriotis said.
What will Greek elections mean for the country's future?
While Samaras has been rather narrow in his views, Monastiriotis said, the politician has shown some leadership in recent days in making concessions to form the coalition.
"The Democratic Left is insisting that this platform will contain commitments that will ensure the removal of measures that have gravely affected the Greek society," Kouvelis said.
The leftist party has supported bailouts from international lenders while seeking to renegotiate the terms.
The party with the second highest number of votes, the leftist Syriza, which is against austerity measures, has declined to be a part of the government.
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International bailouts have kept Greece from defaulting in the face of an ongoing recession and low tax revenue, but lenders have demanded hugely unpopular government budget cuts in exchange.
Some observers had predicted that efforts to renegotiate the bailout could lead to a run on Greek banks and deeper misery.
The country must identify additional budget cuts by the end of June to be considered compliant with the terms of its bailout. After five years of recession, unemployment is running at about 22%, taxes are going up and many of those with jobs are suffering cuts to wages.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Europe's powerful advocate for balancing budgets to build a strong basis for economic growth, had urged Greeks not to walk away from the international loan deals. Resentment of Germany has run high in Greece during the course of austerity's implementation.
