Greece: Sunday Night Deadline for Deal

By Demetris Nellas and Derek Gatopoulos

ATHENS, Greece (TheStreet) -- Greece's finance minister said negotiations for the bailout deal his country needs to avoid defaulting on its debts must be completed by late Sunday, but that a breakthrough is being held up by demands from debt inspectors for more austerity measures.

Evangelos Venizelos said Saturday the negotiations in Athens with rescue creditors for a new 130 billion euros ($171 billion) bailout deal are at "a very crucial stage."

Earlier, he joined a two-hour conference call with other eurozone finance ministers, and resumed talks with debt inspectors from the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund -- known as the "troika" -- after a 12-hour meeting with them on Friday.

Venizelos also met with Greece's ministers of health, labor, defense, interior and public sector reform to discuss demands for wage cuts in the private sector and faster staff cuts, including dismissals, in Greece's large public sector.

"The euro group conference call was very difficult. There is great anxiety and great pressure from (the troika) as well as individual eurozone member states, each of which has its own priorities," Venizelos told reporters, without providing details or naming any of the countries.

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"There is a very small margin separating a successful end in (negotiations) from an impasse that could be due to a misunderstanding," he said. "We stand at the razor's edge."

He said the negotiations must be completed by Sunday night, without saying why.

Venizelos said the talks are being held up by demands from debt inspectors to impose cuts in private sector pay and new austerity measures to keep Greece within its tight deficit-reduction targets.

"We are at the point when we must make decisions and commit to them. Two major issues remain outstanding: labor relations and private sector pay, and fiscal measures required to stay absolutely on target in 2012," the finance minister said.

Heavily in debt and suffering a fourth year of recession, Greece needs the 130 billion euro ($171 billion) rescue deal, backed by eurozone countries and the IMF, to avoid bankruptcy next month.