Greek premier will meet with Merkel and Hollande in bailout extension talks

The Greek premier will be meeting with eurozone leaders this week to negotiate an extension to Greece's timetable for making financial reforms and retaining access to bailout funds.

By Nicholas Paphitis,?Associated Press / August 22, 2012

Greek Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, (r.), embraces Claude Junker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg and President of Eurogroup prior to their meeting in Athens, Wednesday. Juncke insisted Greece must remain within the euro. Its exit from the currency used by 17 European Union countries would hurt both the country and the wider continent.

Petros Giannakouris/AP

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Greece's premier embarked Wednesday on a diplomatic push to earn his debt-crippled nation more time to complete reforms and retain access to bailout loans, but a top European official said that any decision will depend on a report by international debt inspectors next month.

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Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs meetings of eurozone finance ministers and is also Luxembourg's prime minister, insisted Greece must remain within the euro. Its exit from the currency used by 17 European Union countries would hurt both to the country and the wider continent.

"I'm totally opposed to the exit of Greece from the euro area," he said after a meeting in Athens with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras.

The meeting is the first of several Samaras will hold this week with European leaders to press the case for granting Athens more time to complete its reforms. He will be in Berlin on Friday to speak with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and in Paris on Saturday with French President Francois Hollande.

Since a series of rating downgrades reduced its government bonds to junk status, Greece has been unable to borrow from international markets to finance its high budget deficits. The country is now dependent on two international rescue loan packages from other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund, which are preventing it from bankruptcy and potentially having to leave the euro.

In return, it has had to impose strict austerity measures, including cuts to salaries and pensions and repeated tax hikes. The cutbacks deepened a recession that is expected at the end of the year to reach a cumulative 20 percent since 2008, amid galloping unemployment that is now over 23 percent.

But Athens has faltered in the speed and effectiveness with which it has implemented the reforms, fuelling impatience by its creditors, notably Germany, which is the single largest contributor to the bailout.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/K6NVsVDhH7g/Greek-premier-will-meet-with-Merkel-and-Hollande-in-bailout-extension-talks

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