Greek PM to meet eurozone leaders this week
Baku, August 20 (AZERTAC). Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is to hold meetings with eurozone leaders this week, which could help determine the fate of his country in the bloc.
In the meetings, Mr Samaras is expected to request more time to meet deficit cutting targets.
That has provoked further frustration in Europe over Greece's ability to honour its commitments.
Its creditors are waiting for a progress report next month before deciding whether to release funds.
This week's round of meetings is due to begin later when Greece's foreign minister Dimitris Avramopoulos meets his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle in Berlin.
On Wednesday, Mr Samaras is expected to meet Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg premier who heads the group of eurozone finance ministers.
He is then due to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on 24 August and French President Francois Hollande on 25 August.
Stuck in recession, Greece is heavily in debt and has implemented more than 43bn euros (£33.8bn) worth of austerity measures since 2010 in order to try to bring down its budget deficit.
The report due next month - which is being conducted by inspectors from what is known as the troika, the EU, International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank - will assess Greece's progress on implementing reforms, in particular its spending cuts and efforts to raise revenue by clamping down on tax evasion.
The German weekly Der Spiegel has reported that an initial assessment by the inspectors suggested Greece may need to cover a financing hole of up to 14bn euros over the next two years, rather than the 11.5bn Athens has identified for 2013 and 2014.
Last week, Greece was able to raise 4.06bn euros with an issue of three-month treasury bills, but the government had to offer an interest rate of 4.43% to attract investors.
Mr Samaras' expected plan to request a two-year extension on its austerity programme has provoked frustration among other European politicians with Athens.
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