Greece Bailout Deal Finally Reached

"A few minutes ago, I got a call from the Prime Minister of Greece saying that an agreement had been reached and has been endorsed by the major parties," European Central Bank President Mario Draghi told a news conference in Frankfurt Thursday morning, the first official acknowledgement of the deal.

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2 a.m. Phone Calls

The dramatic dynamics behind how the deal was struck began last night when European officials, meeting with Greek political leaders in Athens, jetted off to Brussels after yet another day of seemingly failed talks.

Late last night, the negotiations -- which had been on edge since the Greek political leaders missed a deadline for agreement the European institutions had set for Monday morning -- appeared headed to yet another day of political gamesmanship.

Among the most contentious points, a reduction of the minimum wage to €586 per month and cuts to the country's pension funds amounting to €300 million. As Greece's finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, left the capital last night, talks had stalled over the pension fund issue and the parties had retired for the day.

"I leave for Brussels with hope that the Eurogroup will take a positive decision concerning the new aid plan," Venizelos said last night, according to Reuters. Immediately afterwards he boarded a plane to go negotiate with euro-area creditors, noting any outcomes "will determine whether the country remains in the euro zone or whether its place in Europe will be endangered."

Then came a phone call from Prime Minister Papademos to one of his coalition partners, which caught the latter at home in the wee hours of the morning, and sealed the fate of the deal.

According to the New York Times, Papademos and the leader of another Greek party, Antonis Samaras, hashed out a preliminary plan that would allow them to accept the cut to the country's retirement funds -- the cut to the minimum wage was apparently agreed to earlier in the day -- by taking money away from other discretionary spending.

In making that agreement, Papademos and Samaras stealthily sidelined the third partner in their coalition, populist leader George Karatzaferis.

A spokeswoman for the prime minister's office, on condition of anonymity, confirmed to the Associated Press that a deal had been struck early this morning.