February 9, 2012 11:22 AM

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Greece: Coalition talks on austerity measures conclude

In Greece, the talks between the coalition leaders on austerity measures ended, with one remaining point of disagreement.The prime minister's office said the three coalition partners who took part in the talks on a rescue plan for the Greek economy reached agreement on all the points of the plan except one.The remaining bone of contention is the reduction of pensions. It is expected that a complete deal will be reached by this evening.A government source said the representatives of the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank went straight into talks with Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos after the eight-hour coalition talks ended. Their talks with Papademos were aimed at concluding a deal before the Eurogroup meeting of eurozone finance ministers scheduled to take place in Brussels today.Agreement on new measures demanded by the EU, the IMF and the ECB and on a debt-write down by banks would open the way for a second rescue package.This money is vital to prevent eurozone member Greece from defaulting on 14.5 billion euros worth of payments to bond holders which will fall due on March 20. Greece was given an initial bailout worth 110 billion euros in May 2010.

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