Greek coalition debt deal meeting 'very probably' Tuesday

(ATHENS) - Greek political leaders will "very probably" meet on Tuesday to decide whether to approve new austerity measures demanded by the country's public creditors for new loans, a government source said on Monday.

The meeting originally to be held on Monday "will very probably be held on Tuesday," the source told AFP, adding: "The negotiations continue, there are still questions to address."

The European Commission earlier noted that Greece was already effectively "past the deadline" to get a deal among the coalition partners to reshape the country's economy and slash its debt in exchange for another bailout.

"The truth is that we are already past the deadline," said Amadeu Altafaj, a spokesman for EU commissioner Olli Rehn.

"The ball is in the Greeks' court," Altafaj added.

The leaders of the socialist, conservative and far-right parties supporting the interim administration of Prime Minister Lucas Papademos met for five hours on Sunday and then gave differing accounts of what had transpired.

Papademos said they had agreed on the "basic elements" demanded by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, including new public spending cuts, pension adjustments and bank recapitalisation in addition to a controversial labour cost revision.

In contrast, the conservative and far-right leaders said they were rejecting pressure for more austerity measures.

Meanwhile, the country's two main unions called a 24-hour general strike for Tuesday to protest the new measures

In Paris, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy ramped up pressure on Athens.

At a joint press conference, Merkel warned that Greece would receive no more EU aid to cope with the debt crisis until Athens reached a deal with the EU Commission, the ECB and the IMF on tightening up its budget.

"The Greeks gave us undertakings," Sarkozy added. "They should respect them scrupulously. There's no choice."

While the EU has sharpened its position on providing another 130 billion euros ($170 billion) in aid to Greece, there was little news on progress in separate talks between Athens and its private creditors, which aim to cut at least 100 billion euros from the roughly 200 billion euros in Greek government debt they hold.