Greek meeting on long-delayed debt deal postponed again

Feb 7, 2012, 19:54 GMT

Athens - The leaders of Greece's governing coalition once again postponed a meeting on painful cutbacks on Tuesday despite pressure to accept the terms of an agreement demanded by international lenders to avert bankruptcy.

A planned meeting between Lucas Papademos and the leaders of the three coalition parties due to take place on Tuesday evening was now expected to be held on Wednesday.

An official from the prime minister's office told dpa that Papademos would meet with representatives of the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), known as the troika, instead on Tuesday evening to fine-tune the details of the 15-page agreement.

Troika officials are pressuring Greece to pass additional austerity measures, including private sector salary cuts and public sector firings before they agree to a second bailout, worth at least 130-billion-euro (170-billion-dollar). Greece needs the money to avoid a default on bond repayments due in March.

Reports said the main stumbling block appears to be a failure on both sides to agree on the cuts Greece will need to make to meet the target of 3.3 billion euros in savings the troika has set for 2012.

The cutbacks have sparked wide-spread anger. Greek riot police clashed with anti-austerity protesters who tried to break a cordon outside parliament earlier on Tuesday, while more than 10,000 demonstrators from Greece's two biggest labour unions also marched through central Athens.

No injuries or arrests were reported.

Labour unions are holding a 24-hour strike in protest at the planned cuts which they say are unfair. Ferry and train services were halted, forcing the closure of schools and banks. Hospitals operated with just emergency staff as doctors walked off the job.

The government on Monday caved in to pressure from the troika and announced 15,000 public sector lay-offs in 2012. Other measures demanded by international creditors include reducing the minimum wage to help boost competitiveness and scrapping the law on collective contracts.

Athens needs to reduce public spending by 1.5 per cent of gross domestic product mainly by cutting spending on defence, health care and social security.

The bailout also depends on separate talks with banks and other private bondholders on a 100-billion-euro Greek debt write-off.

The Greek prime minister had another meeting late Tuesday with Charles Dallara, a banker who represents private bondholders in the negotiations.