The Mountain Government (PEEA)

This new initiative for a lasting compromise solution, as expressed by the Papandreou government in the spring of 1944, proved stillborn. The desire of the EAM/ ELAS leadership to occupy a major role in the administration of postwar Greece did not abate.

Suddenly in March 1944, EAM announced the formation of the Political Committee of National Liberation (PEEA) for the administration of those areas under the control of ELAS forces. Although the new organisation was headed by a non-communist (its leader was the university professor Alexandros Svolos), this development caused serious cracks in the unity of the Greek political and military leadership.

Rebellions in the Greek armed forces stationing in Egypt led to a general crisis within the exiled Greek government. The violent suppression of the rebellions aggravated the situation even further, but the arrival of George Papandreou in Egypt offered a new opportunity for the formation of a government with wider appeal in an attempt to appease EAM.