ATHENS — Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos summoned the country’s international lenders for further discussions after he failed to get full agreement from his coalition supporters on economic measures needed for a second aid package.
Papademos and the three party leaders “agreed on all the points of the program with the exception of one which requires further elaboration and discussion” with the so-called troika of lenders, according to an e-mailed statement from the premier’s office in Athens.
Antonis Samaras of the New Democracy party said talks on the new financing pact stalled over a dispute on cutting pensions.
Officials of the so-called troika, representing the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, sped into the premier’s offices in Athens as soon as the three party leaders departed, according to a live broadcast on state-run NET TV.
The Greek government, facing a $19.2 billion bond payment March 20, is struggling to arrange financing to avert a collapse of the economy, risking a new round of contagion in the euro area. Bloomberg News
