Greek parties will try on Wednesday to agree a reform deal in return for a new European Union/International Monetary Fund rescue to avoid a chaotic default, after repeated delays which have prompted warnings that the euro can live without Athens.
With the future of Greece and the wider euro zone at stake, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos' efforts to get the three parties in his government to accept the tough reforms demanded by the European Union and International Monetary Fund seem to have been thwarted by arguments over little more than procedural matters.
One deadline after another has passed without the leaders making up their minds on terms for the new 130-billion-euro ($172-billion U.S.) rescue which Athens must receive to avoid going bankrupt next month when big debt repayments are due.
What was supposed to have been a crunch meeting on Tuesday was postponed because of missing paperwork, according to one party official, delaying discussion of a deal which is likely to prove unpopular with an angry Greek electorate.
All three parties -- conservative New Democracy, the PASOK socialists and far-right LAOS -- finally received the 15-page document on Wednesday morning laying out the principles of the bailout and its conditions, a party official told reporters.
Attached to the document are a further 30 or so pages laying out how the bailout deal, which is likely to force a big cut in many Greeks' living standards, will be implemented.
Papademos's travails did not stop there.
After officials spoke optimistically that the three leaders -- New Democracy's Antonis Samaras, PASOK's George Papandreou and LAOS leader George Karatzaferis -- would meet in the early afternoon on Wednesday, in the space of two hours the meeting had been postponed twice.
Earlier, an official said Karatzaferis wanted all documentation translated from English -- the language of negotiation with the international lenders -- into Greek before he would look at them.
Another party demanded several hours to study the draft before discussions could begin, an official at the party said, requesting anonymity.
One Greek news website wrote an open letter to Papademos on Wednesday demanding that he "end this water torture."
Facing elections possibly as early as April, coalition leaders have shown little sense of urgency, seemingly deaf to demands from euro-zone leaders to make up their minds fast.
An opinion poll on Wednesday showed that PASOK, which ruled Greece until the government of George Papandreou collapsed last November, has most to fear from elections. The monthly survey by Public Issue for Kathimerini newspaper showed support for PASOK had collapsed to 8% from the nearly 44% it took when it returned to power in 2009.
Greek media reported various elements of the deal were now in place. According to a government source, the minimum wage will be cut by about 20 percent and supplementary pensions by up to 15%.
Also, a bond swap deal with private creditors appeared to have been struck, easing Greece's debt burden by radically reducing the value of government bonds held by private banks and other investors. The new bonds would have an average interest rate of around 3.5%, said state NET TV.
But one person familiar with matter said that no deal had been nailed down. "Everyone knows where we (creditors) stand. There's a lot of clarity on the terms and conditions but the Greeks still have to provide more feedback," said the source, noting that little had changed since reports that the creditors would take a 70% loss on their holdings.
Media also reported that the E.C.B., which has large holdings of Greek bonds but has refused to take part in the swap, had agreed to sell its holdings at their purchase price to a euro zone bailout fund, the EFSF.
However, one E.U. official in Brussels said it was highly unlikely the E.C.B. would agree to anything without first seeing that the final elements of the Greek deal were in place.
Some financial markets showed hope that Greece would agree the bailout deal. Prices of German government bonds, which investors buy at times of uncertainty for their perceived safety, fell on Wednesday. The euro also hit a new two-month high versus the dollar.
Euro-zone officials say the full package must be agreed with Greece and approved by the euro-zone, European Central Bank and IMF before February 15.
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