Greece’s prime minister and the leaders of the three parties backing his coalition government have concluded a nearly three-hour meeting discussing the country’s negotiations with its creditors.
Lucas Papademos said on Sunday there was “total convergence” among political allies on new austerity measures needed for a second bailout and debt cuts to avert default.
“This will allow us to negotiate in the best conditions,” Papademos said, after talks with his Socialist predecessor George Papandreou, Antonis Samaras, head of the centre-right New Democracy party, and far-right leader George Karatzaferis.
He said negotiations with creditors “are not easy … the partners want additional engagements and conditions,” and stressed that if the talks failed, Athens “faced the spectre of default.”
Papademos sought agreement on the broad outlines of an accord with private creditors to erase 100 billion euros of Greece’s debt, and the new recovery plan put forward by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
The eurozone and the IMF are demanding this commitment, even asking for it in writing, for the second time since November, so that Greece will stay on the straight and narrow through early elections to be held in the spring.
European leaders meet in Brussels tomorrow to draw up rules to strengthen governance of the euro region after Greece sparked a wave of financial turmoil that still threatens to splinter the euro area.
(source: AP, AFP)
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