Greece will meet EU demands by late Wednesday call: Athens

(ATHENS) - Greece will meet European Union demands for budget action and reform pledges from its political leaders ahead of a eurozone conference call later on Wednesday, the Greek finance minister said.

"Only a few issues remain," Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told reporters after a meeting with Greece's head of state, President Carolos Papoulias.

"They will be clarified by the teleconference," the minister said.

The European Union wants Athens to plug a 325-million-euro ($423-million) hole in its budget and demands written commitments from the coalition leaders backing Prime Minister Lucas' Papademos government that the reforms will continue after elections are held, most likely in April.

Eurozone ministers late Tuesday called off a full meeting on a rescue needed avert imminent default for Greece, complaining that Athens still had not fulfilled two vital conditions, with time running out for a debt restructuring.

A teleconference will instead be held on Wednesday evening.

Greece desperately needs the rescue package of 130 billion euros in fresh loans and a 100-billion-euro write down on privately-held government bonds to avoid defaulting on 14.5 billion euros in debt owed on March 20.