Greece misses bail-out deadline

Financial Times
February 7, 2012

Greece missed another deadline to approve conditions for a second €130bn bail-out on Tuesday night, after a meeting with political leaders was postponed until Wednesday because of last-minute haggling with international lenders over emergency spending cuts.

A government official said Lucas Papademos, the technocrat prime minister, would hold the talks on Wednesday morning and expected a deal to be presented for approval at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers later in the week.

But the delay over agreeing €3bn of extra spending cuts fuelled anxieties that Athens may be forced into a messy default next month. It also triggered concern over whether Greece remains committed to fiscal and structural reform after two years of failing to implement measures agreed in return for billions of euros in financial support.

More