Greece's prime minister is calling the country's political leaders in the next few days to seek backing for more austerity after the International Monetary Fund warned this was key to securing the new bailout Athens needs to avoid a messy default, accordin to Reuters. With a long-delayed deal with private sector creditors to cut Greece's debt mountain by 100 billion euros nearly wrapped up, the government is now racing to complete talks on the 130-billion euro ($170.18 billion) bailout by the end of the week. To do so, Athens must first persuade the European Union and IMF - which have grown increasingly exasperated with its repeated failures to meet deficit and reform targets - that it will implement long-delayed reforms and slash spending further. The prospect of elections as early as April complicates the talks, with political leaders in Prime Minister Lucas Papademos's coalition eager to distance themselves from any cuts that herald more pain for ordinary Greeks. Antonis Samaras, whose conservative party shares power in the coalition, has rejected any further austerity, saying it risked plunging Greece even deeper into recession. Several lawmakers from all three major parties have said the same. This worries Greece's lenders, who want to make sure Athens will deliver this time. Government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis said Papademos would convene the conservative, socialist and far-right leaders in the coming days to ask them to back any deal. The date has not been set yet, he said. -- SPA
