Greece Hopeful of Striking the Bailout Deal

"I cannot accept Mr Schaeuble insulting my country," Papoulias riposted.

"Who is Mr Schaeuble to insult Greece? Who are the Dutch? Who are the Finnish?" he asked of critics in two countries which, like Germany, have heaped pressure on Athens.

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Greek officials insisted after late-night talks with euro zone counterparts that they had met the final demands set by the European Union and IMF to seal a second rescue deal needed to avoid chaotic default when debt repayments fall due in March.

But the euro slid to a three-week low on the dollar in early Thursday trade as markets focused on a Reuters report that finance officials in the currency union were looking at ways to delay all or part of the rescue deal while avoiding a default.

EU sources told Reuters euro zone officials were studying the option of postponing part or all of the rescue deal until after the elections while still avoiding a disorderly default.

"Confidence has indeed sunk to a low point," Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees De Jager told Dutch paper Het Financieele Dagblad, suggesting one option was to delay delivering the bailout in full until after a Greek election expected in April.

"Schaeuble Junta", ran a headline in the conservative Eleftheros Typos newspaper, harking back to Greece's painful spell under military rule during the 1960s and 1970s.

Greece is pinning its hopes on a fresh meeting of euro zone finance ministers scheduled for Monday after it failed this week to clinch a deal to avert a bankruptcy which could shake financial markets around the globe.

Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said Athens had plugged a 325 million-euro gap in a promised 3.3 billion euros of extra budget savings this year, noting both parties in the government of Prime Minister Lucas Papademos had signed up to austerity measures which already triggered rioting in Athens on Sunday.

Venizelos said he hoped euro zone officials could tie up all the issues before the ministerial Eurogroup meets on Monday, opening the way for a bond swap deal with Greece's private creditors, known as PSI, which will reduce its debt mountain.

"These issues will be prepared at a Euro Working Group meeting on Sunday in Brussels so that, with good faith, the final decision for the approval of the (bailout) programme is taken and the public announcement of the PSI is made on Monday," he told reporters after a conference call with euro zone peers.