After three days of delays, Greek coalition leaders have held crucial debt talks with the prime minister to review a draft deal on steep cutbacks demanded by creditors in return for a 130 billion euro ($A160 billion) bailout.
A meeting of eurozone finance ministers will go ahead in Brussels on Thursday evening to discuss the second massive bailout for Greece - a key indication that a deal is close. Jean-Claude Juncker, who heads the finance minister meetings and is Luxembourg's premier, said the officials will meet at 1700 GMT (0400 Thursday AEDT).
In Athens, leaders of three parties backing the three-month-old coalition are under intense pressure to accept the new austerity demands and shield the country from a looming bankruptcy.
Their decisions will be announced at a meeting with Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, after the parties were handed a 50-page, English-language draft agreement, drawn up with international debt inspectors late on Tuesday.
Athens has already accepted a demand to fire up to 15,000 workers in the public sector in 2012, but is under pressure to impose deeper cuts, including reductions in pension payments and the minimum wage. Two years of cutbacks already have seen unemployment rise to around 19 per cent and poverty to 20 per cent in Greece, according to data from the EU statistics agency Eurostat.
Papademos called Juncker on Wednesday to relay the reservations of Greek political parties regarding proposed pension cuts, a party official said on condition of anonymity because the talks are ongoing.
Greece's largest labour union, GSEE, said it would meet on Thursday to consider calling for new protests against the austerity measures. 'They simply don't care that they are causing such damage to the country and such damage to society,' said senior GSEE official Stathis Anestis.
A disorderly bankruptcy by Greece would likely lead to its exit from the eurozone, a situation that European officials have insisted is impossible because it would hurt other weak countries like Portugal, Ireland and Italy.
It was still not clear whether the parties - the majority Socialists, main rival conservatives, and small right-wing LAOS - would accept the austerity demands, particularly ahead of national elections provisionally set for late April.
'Austerity measures are like shoes that are too tight. Sooner or later, you want to kick them off,' LAOS leader George Karatzaferis was quoted as saying by state TV.
The coalition talks have been repeatedly postponed this week to make time for exhaustive negotiations with representatives of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, on whose approval the continued flow of Greece's vital rescue loans depends.
Without the bailout, Greece would not have enough money to pay off a big bond redemption payment due on March 20, triggering a default that risks sending shockwaves throughout financial markets and the global economy.
As anger mounts in Greece at the prospect of further economic pain, patience is running out abroad.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said Greece must swiftly return to a sustainable, viable path.
'This is not a question one can take a lot of time to tackle,' Steffen Seibert said. 'It is important that the negotiations now come to an end.'
Late on Tuesday, Greece's private creditors signalled progress on a separate, linked agreement that would cut the country's privately held debt load by 50 per cent, or some 100 billion euro.
The intention is to ensure that Greece's long-term debts are sustainable. Banks, pension and hedge funds and other private sector holders of Greek debt are expected to swap their current bonds for new ones worth 50 per cent less than the original face value, with longer repayment terms and a lower interest rate. They are also expected to get a 30 billion euro payment as part of the bond swap deal.
'We face crucial decisions ... that will determine the country's course in coming years,' Deputy Finance Minister Philippos Sachinidis told Parliament. 'These days are among the most crucial of our post-World War II history.'
The EU, ECB and IMF, known collectively as the 'troika', have demanded the additional measures which they say will improve Greece's competitiveness and economic stability, as well as cuts in health, welfare and defence spending.
Provided political leaders accept the demanded austerity, Greek officials say a cabinet meeting will approve the deal, likely later on Wednesday. Parliament will then have to vote on the agreement over the weekend.
