Greece's coalition government plans to meet up this afternoon as it continues to haggle over the 13.5bn euro austerity measures that must be agreed in order to comply with the bailout agreement terms and receive the Troika's approval for the release of the next 31.5bn tranche of aid.

The Troika are representatives from the European Commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank.

As coalition members Prime Minister Antonis Samaris, PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos and Democratic Left head Fotis Kouvelis prepare to meet to try and hammer out the details, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras warned that a deal must reached in a hurry.

"We will go hungry if we do not get the next installment. If we want to get the tranche before the state reserves run out then we have to run fast," he said.

Government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou told Skai television that "we must reach an agreement today or Wednesday."

Athens is expected to run out of funds on November 16th. Kathimerini reports that Samaras is trying to secure a "positive message" before an "emergency summit of Eurozone finance ministers on Monday".

The Greek newspaper adds that the coalition will be discussing Troika demands today. The current disagreement centres on how much employees who have worked at the same company for more than 16 years should receive if they lose their job.

It is also thought that both sides will be discussing a reduction in privatisation targets. Another unresolved issue has to do with public worker layoffs. The Troika has reportedly dropped its insistence on the immediate dismissal of 15,000 workers, but definitely wants to see 5,000 sacked by the end of this year with another 5,000 to be fired in the first quarter of 2013.

JM

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