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| Greece's Venizelos promises cuts deal 'within hours' | Greece's Venizelos promises cuts deal 'within hours' |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| Greece has promised to "fully clarify" its austerity measures, a day after eurozone chiefs demanded further cuts. | 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. | 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. | 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. | Athens is negotiating a 130bn-euro bailout with the EU and IMF. |
| The deal also includes a provision to write off a further 100bn 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. | 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. |
| Reports say both leaders of the two main parties have now signed letters committing them to enacting the changes. | Reports say both leaders of the two main parties have now signed letters committing them to enacting the changes. |
| Mr Venizelos said there were "very few remaining issues" with the austerity package. | |
| But he also warned that some eurozone countries were "playing with fire". | |
| "There are many in the eurozone who don't want us any more," he said. | |
| Without the bailout, Greece will be unable to pay its debts and will be forced into a default. | |
| Its next payment is due on 20 March, and the complex technicalities of finalising the bailout take several weeks even after the politicians have agreed the measures. | |
| But the austerity plan that the EU and IMF have insisted on as a condition of the deal has been hugely unpopular in Greece. | |
| Anger boiled over during Sunday's vote in parliament, when large groups of protesters clashed with riot police and dozens of buildings were set on fire in Athens. | |
| But eurozone countries appear to be running out of patience with Greece. | |
| On Wednesday German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told local radio he wanted to help Greece, but "we are not going to pour money into a bottomless pit", in comments translated by the AFP news agency. | |
| And unnamed eurozone officials were quoted suggesting that Greece's latest assurances still may not be enough, because people no longer trusted the country's politicians. | |
| Greece has failed to deliver on many of the promises it made to secure an earlier bailout deal, EU officials say. |