Greece is seeking a two-year extension of its latest austerity programme in order to improve the country’s debt sustainability and restore growth, according to a document obtained by the Financial Times.
Antonis Samaras, the centre-right prime minister, is expected to outline the proposal during talks next week with Angela Merkel, German chancellor, in Berlin and French president François Hollande in Paris.
It comes as Greece struggles to find another €11.5bn of spending cuts – equivalent to about 5 per cent of national output – to be implemented in 2013 and 2014 under the current bailout deal with the European Union and International Monetary Fund.