Greece and Italy have bought a little time for Europe in its battle to save the euro by easing out contested leaders and ploughing on with long-overdue economic reforms.
But their new governments of national unity face a mighty task and may well survive only a few months.
Relieved that headway was apparently being made in resolving the debt crisis that has driven the single European currency to the edge, the markets reacted favourably after a technocrat took the helm in Athens and a former European commissioner prepared to follow suit in Rome.
"What we wanted at the IMF was political stability and a clear policy in both countries. I believe significant progress has been made," the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, said.
In Greece, the new Prime Minister is Lucas Papademos, a former vice president of the European Central Bank (ECB). His finance minister is Evangelos Venizelos, a holdover from the previous government who has won high marks for tenacious lobbying for belt-tightening. In Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, ousted in a parliamentary revolt, resigned to jeering crowds in Rome after the Lower House of Parliament overwhelmingly approved the reforms he had reluctantly promised to fellow European leaders last month. His likely successor is former European commissioner Mario Monti, a 68-year-old economist.