Greece "already past the deadline" for bailout, EU says

Feb 6, 2012, 12:05 GMT

Brussels - Time is running out to save Greece from default, the European Union's executive said Monday, after Greek politicians failed on the weekend to agree on the austerity measures international lenders are demanding in return for the aid.

'The truth is that we are already past the deadline' to get a new bailout package agreed, Amadeu Altafaj, spokesman for EU Economy Commissioner Olli Rehn said in Brussels.

'We had hoped that the necessary decisions would have been taken this weekend ... there are deadlines which cannot be simply be ignored,' he lamented.

EU institutions will now try to speed up the necessary legal and financial procedures needed to mount a bailout, Altafaj said. Greece needs money before a 14.5-billion-euro (19-billion-dollar) bond repayment is due on March 20.