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ATHENS — Greece’s leaders battled to salvage a $170 billion EU/IMF bailout on Wednesday, rejecting criticism of their commitment to a punishing austerity package despite staunch opposition to it among voters.
But with mistrust of Athens high, EU sources told Reuters euro zone finance officials were studying whether it was possible to delay part or all of the rescue deal while still avoiding a disorderly default.
Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos insisted that Greece would clarify all outstanding issues on a $4.3 billion package of cuts and attacked critics for “playing with fire.”
After a three-hour conference call among the 17 euro zone ministers to discuss how to proceed, Eurogroupchairmanjean-claude Juncker issued a statement saying progress had been made but provided few details.
He said the European Central Bank, I MF and European Commission had completed a report into Greece’s debt sustainability — a precondition for approving the bailout — and that he expected the Eurogroup to be able to take the necessary decisions on Athens at the next meet- ing on Monday.
“Further considerations are necessary regarding the specific mechanisms to strengthen the surveillance of program implementation and to ensure that priority is given to debt servicing,” he said. “On the basis of the ele- ments that are currently on the table and the above-mentioned additional input, I am confident that the Eurogroup will be able to take all the necessary decisions on Monday.”