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Greek austerity plans not ready, say eurozone ministers

Greece has been convulsed by strikes, protests and riots over existing austerity measures

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Eurozone ministers have cast doubt over a new Greek austerity plan, as they meet in Brussels to decide on a 130bn euro ($170bn; £110bn) bailout fund.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the Greek plan was "not at a stage where it can be signed off".

The Greek government brokered a deal after days of negotiations between the parties in its fragile coalition.

Few details of the plan have been released, but unions have already called a 48-hour strike in protest.

Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the so-called eurogroup of finance ministers, said he doubted whether the Greek plan was ready for approval.

"I do not have reasons to believe that there will be a definitive deal this evening," he told reporters as he arrived for the Brussels meeting.

But he hailed the progress Greece had made and said eurozone countries were likely to thrash out a deal with Athens by next week.

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Analysis

Chris MorrisBBC News, Brussels

The pieces of an overall deal on Greece are beginning to fall into place. But the agreement between political parties in Athens is just one part of a complex set of negotiations involving the second financial bailout and a deal with private banks to write off 100bn euros of Greek debt.

Crucially the whole package has to satisfy the demand from creditors like the IMF that it will make Greek debt sustainable - and it's not clear that that point has yet been reached. So no-one will be signing any cheques straight away.

The question is who's going to pay. Eurozone countries like Germany believe they're contributing enough already. Private banks feel the same. Some have suggested that the European Central Bank could, under strict conditions, play a role. But there will be considerable argument over this complex choreography - not least because it involves vast amounts of money, and significant political risk.

Greece is trying to negotiate the bailout from the EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

It is the second such bailout, and lenders have insisted on more austerity measures in return for the loan.

The plan agreed by the Greek government includes 15,000 public-sector job cuts, liberalisation of labour laws, lowering the minimum wage by 22% and negotiating a debt write-off with banks.

But a key demand of the EU, IMF and European Central Bank was reform of the pension system, an issue that proved to be a stumbling block.

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos tried to convince his coalition partners to overhaul pensions and save 300m euros a year.

Talks broke up without an agreement, but officials later announced that a compromise had been reached. It was not clear how the 300m euro saving would be made.

The government needs the backing of the eurozone ministers and the approval of the Greek parliament before the deal can be finalised.

Neither Mr Juncker nor Mr Schaeuble detailed their doubts about the plan.

But IMF officials had earlier hinted that it lacked any proposals for major institutional reform.

They were also seeking assurances that the agreed measures would not be affected by elections due in April.

Greece is already feeling the effects of an earlier round of austerity, put in place as part of a deal to release funds from a previous bailout.

Those cuts triggered widespread unrest and violent protests.

Greece is deep in recession with unemployment rising above 20%.