Greece has only one day left to clinch a eurozone bailout and a bond swap with creditors to manage its crushing debt repayments, its finance minister has said, warning that talks were "on a knife edge"."The moment is very critical," Evangelos Venizelos told news hounds on Saturday after a telephone conference with fellow eurozone finance ministers, which he described as "very difficult".
"Everything must be concluded by tomorrow (Sunday) night... so that we can be within the timetable given the bond maturities in March," the minister said.
Athens has been negotiating with the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank on further action needed to unlock a new rescue deal worth 130bn euros ($171bn).
Pressure is also mounting for a deal with private lenders to wipe out part of the 350bn euro ($460bn) Greek debt, with Athens facing loan repayments of 14.4bn euros ($19bn) on March 20.
Venizelos said two major points of contention with the EU and IMF remained open - controversial labour cost cuts, and new fiscal measures to address slippage to deficit targets owing to a greater than forecast recession. He said the time had come for the coalition of socialist, conservative and far-right parties backing the Greek interim government to make "a decision and a commitment" to pave the way for agreement.
Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is expected to summon the coalition party leaders to a meeting on Sunday. But the outcome is unclear, as all three parties have expressed misgivings about the additional fiscal reforms demanded by Greece's creditors.
Papademos has reportedly threatened to resign if his coalition backers reject the demanded austerity measures, though government front man Pantelis Kapsis refused to confirm this.
The coalition leaders are strongly opposed to demands for further civil service cuts, now reportedly affecting teachers and military staff, and for a reduction in the minimum monthly wage which now stands at 750 euros ($986).
Defence Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos warned on Saturday that "social tolerance has reached its limit" in Greece after two years of austerity.
"I fear society will not be able to respond to the asphyxiating terms being imposed," Avramopoulos told financial daily Imerisia.