Greek PM seeks unity on austerity

Athens - Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos met on Sunday with top political allies to rally them behind new austerity measures that must be in place for Athens to receive a second bailout from the EU and IMF.

The meeting began at midday at Greek government headquarters and was attended by Papademos's Socialist predecessor Georges Papandreou, Antonis Samaras, head of the centre-right New Democracy party, and far-right leader Georges Karatzaferis.

Papademos is seeking agreement on the broad outlines of an accord with private creditors to erase €100bn of Greece's debt, and the new recovery plan put forward by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

The eurozone and the IMF are demanding this commitment, even asking for it in writing, for the second time since November, so that Greece will stay on the straight and narrow through early elections to be held in the spring.

Samaras, a longtime proponent of EU-IMF remedies, is tipped to win the polls.

Greece is trying to wrap up a a so-called Private Sector Involvement deal with private creditors for them to accept a halving of the 200 billion euros in debt they hold, with talks previously snagged on the amount of interest to be paid on the remainder.

Athens faces a critical bond reimbursement worth €14.5bn on March 20.

An international troika made up of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund is trying to make Greece's debt mountain sustainable by 2020.

They demand the austerity measures and deregulation before they will agree to release the second bailout, initially agreed in October, for €130bn.

Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told reporters on Saturday that he was hopeful of a deal within days.

"We have prepared all the technical and legal texts, and major progress has been made. ... In principle we will conclude (an agreement) next week."