By Luke Baker and Dina Kyriakidou, Renee Ma
February 14, 2012 6:49 PM EST
Eurozone finance ministers have dropped plans for a special face-to-face meeting on Wednesday on Greece's new international bailout, saying political party chiefs in Athens had failed to provide the required commitment to reform.
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A day before eurozone finance ministers had been due to meet in Brussels to consider the bailout, the man most likely to be Greece's next prime minister had yet to sign a commitment to implement the austerity measures demanded by the EU and IMF.
Likewise, the cabinet had yet to fill a 325 million euro (272 million pound) gap in the budget cuts promised for 2012, even though the ministers of the Eurogroup had told Athens that they needed a complete package of promises and signed undertakings.
With the European Union's patience with Greece close to the breaking point, Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker downgraded Wednesday's talks to a telephone conference call.
That appeared to kill any chance that the Eurogroup would approve on Wednesday the 130 billion euro bailout, funds from which Greece must start getting by next month to avoid a messy bankruptcy. It is due to hold a regular meeting on Feb. 20.
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Juncker said he was awaiting written undertakings from Greek party leaders on pushing through with the austerity package of pay, pension and job cuts -- which the Greek parliament passed early on Monday as rioters wrecked buildings across central Athens.
"I did not yet receive the required political assurances from the leaders of the Greek coalition parties on the implementation of the programme," he said in a statement.
A source familiar with the bailout negotiations said conservative leader Antonis Samaras had yet to sign the commitment to implement the deeply unpopular austerity package, a condition set by the EU/IMF lenders that are weary of broken Greek promises on economic reform and budget cuts.
"So far, Samaras has not given a letter of commitment, and this is a problem," the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity. The New Democracy party of Samaras declined comment.
A government source said Samaras would provide the undertaking on Wednesday morning. If he does, he will be sticking to a pattern among Greek politicians of working right up to deadlines or beyond, infuriating EU leaders.
This practice of keeping everyone in suspense until the last minute appears to have cost Greece the full Eurogroup meeting. Time is running out as it faces a chaotic default if it cannot meet 14.5 billion euros in debt repayments due on March 20.
The Man Most Likely
With New Democracy well ahead in opinion polls, Samaras is front-runner to become the next prime minister. When parliament debated the austerity package he indicated that he would try to renegotiate the terms of the bailout, further sowing doubt in the minds of European leaders.
A source at the PASOK socialist party, the other coalition party, said its leader, George Papandreou, had already provided a signed undertaking.
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