Greece's new finance minister met with inspectors from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday to hammer out details of a 28-billion-euro (40-billion-dollar) austerity package, which must be passed by parliament within the next week to avoid a potential debt default, according to dpa. Prime Minister George Papandreou needs legislative approval to secure a new round of funding from Greece's 110-billion-euro EU/IMF bailout. European leaders have been piling pressure on Athens to push through more spending cuts, tax hikes and asset sales, measures that are opposed by the majority of the Greek population. Without the money, Greece faces the risk of running out of money by the middle of July. Newly-appointed Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos was meeting with heads of delegation from international lenders to discuss the final details of the two bills. The mid-term austerity bill is to be debated in parliament on Monday and Tuesday, with a vote expected late Tuesday. The additional law for implementing the bill must be passed by June 30. Thursday's talks came as Papandreou, who survived a parliamentary confidence vote last Tuesday, headed to Brussels for a summit of European Union leaders. The Greek bailout is one of the key issues on the summit's agenda. Venizelos wants to avoid lowering the income tax threshold to below 12,000 euros by implementing a special one-off levy on higher earnings ranging between 1 and 3 per cent. But according to Greek daily Kathimerini, the proposals was found to be insufficient by the EU/IMF inspectors. Officials in Brussels said new austerity measures must be in place in time for a July 3 special meeting of eurozone finance ministers. Greece is now in negotiations for a second bailout worth an estimated 120 billion euros. Papandreou still needs to convince several members of his own Socialist party to back the austerity measures. At least one deputy, Alexandros Athanasiadis repeated calls this week that he would vote against the bill because of the government's intention to sell off state assets. The country has been plagued by weeks of protests and riots in Athens and other cities and nationwide strikes that have closed down public services and halted transport. A Greek default could spark more panic in financial markets, severely hurt banks in Greece and across Europe, and have a domino effect on other struggling economies such as Portugal, Spain and Ireland.
