Greeks Trying Again to Seal an Austerity Deal

One deadline after another has come and gone. A meeting that had already been delayed on Monday night was postponed again on Tuesday evening as the leaders of the Greek coalition parties said they had not seen the document outlining the austerity deal.

Meanwhile, a general strike by public- and private-sector unions shut banks, slowed public transport, closed schools and forced hospitals to operate with skeleton staff on Tuesday.

During yesterday's late night talks involving EU, ECB and IMF officials, the final touches to the 50-page draft text of the agreement has finally been made. The text was eventually given to officials from Pasok, New Democracy and the far-right Laos party today in the morning.

Later today, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is due to meet coalition parties in an attempt to seal an austerity agreement to secure a new EU/IMF bailout. The accord is likely to include a 20% minimum wage reduction, pension cuts and 15,000 civil service lay-offs.

Source: BBC