EURO zone finance ministers told Greece early yesterday it could not go ahead with an agreed deal to restructure privately held debt until it guaranteed it would implement reforms needed to secure a second financing package from the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    Euro zone ministers had hoped to meet today to finalize the second Greek bailout, which has to be in place by mid-March if Athens is to avoid a chaotic default. But the meeting was postponed because of Greek reluctance to commit to reforms.

    Instead, the ministers held a conference call yesterday to take stock of progress on the second financing package, which euro zone leaders set at 130 billion euros (US$170.89 billion) back in October.

    “There was a very clear message that was conveyed from all participants of the teleconference to the Greeks that enough is enough,” one euro zone official said. “There is a great sense of frustration that they are dragging their feet.

    “They should get their act together and start talking honestly, decisively and speedily with the Troika on the aspects of the program that remain to be finalized on fiscal and labor market reforms,” the official said.

    The Troika are the representatives of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF, who have prepared a Greek debt sustainability analysis on which the second financing program will be based.

    “The main issue is the lack of reform, or prior action, in Greece,” a second euro zone official said.

    Euro zone ministers were also dissatisfied with Greek finance minister Evangelos Venizelos because they believed the minister was paying more attention to his position within his party ahead of the April election, than to discussing reforms.

    “There is a great sense of frustration with Minister Venizelos, who is very hard to get hold of because he is very busy campaigning for the leadership of (the Greek party) PASOK, so he is not available to meet with Troika members,” the first official said.

    “He is preparing his own political future, rather than the future of his country. People are seriously disgruntled about that and have conveyed this very clearly to him,” the official said.

    “There is an increasing sense of frustration that why should we honor our part of the bargain, which we have in the past, while Greece does not seem to care that much, and has not delivered their part of the bargain,” the official said.

    In Athens, Venizelos admitted to a growing sense of impatience with the Greeks.

    “There is great impatience and great pressure not only from the three institutions that make up the Troika but also from euro zone member states,” Venizelos said.

    “The moment is very crucial. Everything should be concluded by tomorrow night.”

    Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, voiced the possibility of default.

    “If we were to establish that everything has gone wrong in Greece, there would be no new program, and that would mean that in March they have to declare bankruptcy,” he said. (SD-Agencies)

    in advance copy of comments to news weekly Der Spiegel.

    Greece has secured a debt restructuring deal with private creditors to halve the value of Greek debt in nominal terms and in exchange receive new, 30-year bonds with an average coupon below 4 percent, officials said.

    The restructuring is to help make Greek debt sustainable by cutting it to 120 percent of GDP in 2020 from 160 percent now.