Greece sticks to its guns on bailout

Greece was locked yesterday in intense talks with its EU partners after the country's prime minister stuck to his anti-austerity guns with the deadline for a deal needed to avoid the risk of default and a euro exit just days away.

In a rousing policy speech to parliament, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Sunday swore he would be "unshakeable" in implementing his electoral promises and refused to apply for an extension to the much-loathed 240-billion-euro ($270 billion) bailout.

The European Commission's representative for the EU-IMF-ECB troika and head of the Euro Working Group were in Athens for talks with the finance ministry in a bid to thrash out a last-minute deal ahead of the emergency meeting of eurozone finance ministers tomorrow.

Athens is expected to push for a new debt deal with its international creditors, so far something which its EU parterns have resisted, and its determination to rip up the 2010 reforms-for-loans programme has sparked fears the country could default and exit the eurozone.