February 9, 2012
Greek political leaders failed to agree on fresh austerity measures during all night talks on Wednesday but were given breathing space to complete a €130bn rescue package and avert a full scale default.
Officials from the so-called troika – the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund – joined the discussions in the early hours in a failed effort to break a deadlock over proposals for deep pension cuts.
Greece has still to find an extra €325m of budget savings to complete a €3bn austerity package agreed with international lenders by the weekend.
A government official said on Thursday: “We are almost there, we’re confident this can be done in the next two weeks.”
Evangelos Venizelos, the finance minister, said he still expected to attend a meeting on Thursday of the eurogroup of finance ministers called to approve the Greek bail-out. “The country’s financial survival in the years ahead depends on this programme. I hope a positive decision will be taken [at the euro group meeting)”.
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