Greece’s minister promises cuts deal ‘within hours’

Greece has promised to “fully clarify” its austerity measures, a day after eurozone chiefs demanded further cuts.

Thursday, February 16, 2012
Evangelos Venizelos warned there were some eurozone members who no longer wanted Greece. Net photo.

Greece has promised to "fully clarify” its austerity measures, a day after eurozone chiefs demanded further cuts.Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said the "few remaining issues” would be finalised before a conference call with eurozone bosses due at 16:00 GMT.An official told the BBC that 325m euros (£270m; $430m) of extra savings had been made with cuts from defence, health and local government budgets.Athens is negotiating a 130bn-euro bailout with the EU and IMF.The deal also includes a provision to write off a further100bn euros of debt owed to banks.Parliament approved a package of austerity measures on Sunday, but eurozone ministers indicated that more detail needed to be given on the cuts.The ministers also insisted that the major Greek political parties committed to implementing the cuts, regardless of who wins a general election scheduled for April.