Greece optimistic new debt deal to be sealed Monday

The Greek government on Thursday expressed optimism that a new debt deal to avoid a chaotic default in March could be sealed at a Eurogroup meeting on Monday.

"We expect to get on Monday the 'green light' so that the Private Sector Involvement (PSI) plan will start," said Greek government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis on Thursday evening, as mounting political pressure by international creditors fuelled new strong reactions by coalition lawmakers and opposition parties.

He stressed that all preconditions for the release of the fresh EU/International Monetary Fund (IMF) 130-billion-euro (170.4 billion U.S. dollars) bailout pact have been met. The pact will clear the way for a parallel bond swap deal with private creditors to ease the country's debt load.

"With good faith, the final decision and announcement will be made on Monday," Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said after a Eurogroup teleconference on the issue on Wednesday night.

Greece's European counterparts seem to have been satisfied with the Greek plan to fill in the last million euros in a 3.2-billion-euro worth extra budget savings program for this year.

It appears they were also content with the written statements of the leaders of the two parties backing the interim government that the austerity and reform drive will be fully implemented in exchange of further aid.

The two requests of lenders in combination with the key demand that the Greek parliament should approve the fresh austerity along with the debt deal before the release of new rescue loans were met with annoyance by some officials and MPs in Athens.

But eurozone partners' new requests that the surveillance of the program's implementation should be strengthened and that similar commitments should be made by all parties in the Greek assembly have sparked new reactions.

Citizen's Protection Minister Christos Papoutsis, for instance, denounced a "cruel blackmail against the Greek government and the Greek political system."

Some MPs belonging to the socialist PASOK and conservative New Democracy (ND) parties joined opposition in strong criticism of some European counterparts' "offence to Greek people."

In this climate, interim Prime Minister Lucas Papademos held on Thursday afternoon separate meetings with PASOK leader George Papandreou and ND chief Antonis Samaras on the developments, while Venizelos held a round of meetings with opposition party leaders.

Speaking of suggestions by some European partners that polls should be held later to allow time for the transitional government to implement the reforms, Kapsis underlined that it is up to Greece to decide on the subject.

"I have nothing to tell to Mr. Schaeuble. It is absolutely our own issue when we will go to polls," he said. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble's statements recently have triggered angry reactions in Greece.

Greece has depended on multi-billion-euro bailout loans since May 2010 to avoid a bankruptcy that could rock the entire eurozone.

Without an agreement on the second aid package and the PSI plan on time, Greece could collapse on March 20, when a 14.5-billion-euro (19.01 billion U.S. dollars) bond falls due. (1 euro = 1.3 U.S. dollars)