The meeting was also attended by Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis, Labour Minister Yiannis Vroutsis, Administration and eGovernance Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Deputy Finance Minister George Mavraganis, AMNA reports.

Exiting the Maximos Mansion Hardouvelis said he briefed the two political leaders on the negotiations in Paris. “It went well. We had progress. We did not close the issues. We continue,” he said, while regarding the possible extension of the current programme he said: “there could be one for a very short period of time for technical reasons.”

The government appears certain that there will be an agreement with the troika by the end of the year. A source close to the Prime Minister stated that “those who invest in catastrophe will be disappointed as there was no wreck or destruction in Paris.”

Negotiations with the troika will continue via teleconference calls in the coming days.

Most of the haggling has been over a projected fiscal gap in the 2015 budget, protothema.gr notes. Failure to strike a deal by the December 8 deadline means that the Greek government won’t be able to keep its pledge of quitting its bailout programme by the end of 2014.

The main issues of discontent are:

- A Finance ministry official pinpointed the “number one” issue being the fiscal gap for 2015. A Greek official said that “the timetable is very tight.” Meanwhile, a European source said that the troika would like to see the new law for debt settlement in 100 installments to be scrapped altogether.

- The troika is not satisfied with structural changes in social security thus far and is seeking to see pensions immediately reduced. They also want the pension age to be lifted but believe that this should be done gradually over a five-year period.

- Troika wants businesses to be excluded from the recent law that allows for debt settlement in up to 100 installments.

- Troika believes that there should be a common salary chart for the public sector or, at the very least, a reduction of “extra” bonuses and overtime.

- International creditors are seeking to have VAT rates increase and for VAT exemptions on some islands to no longer apply. They want the reduced 6.5% and 14% VAT rates for items that are considered basic needs to be lifted.

- The troika would like to see Greek labour law to include mass dismissals and changes to the way decisions for strike action are structured as well as changes to the law on unions.

Sources said that discussions with the troika had not resulted in a date being set for the return of troika’s representatives to Athens for a review prior to the Eurogroup meeting on December 8. Nonetheless, the extension of the bailout has yet to be discussed.

The markets have been negative concerning Greece’s early exit from the program with Greek government bonds having slumped and Greece’s 10-year bond close to 8%.

“Many of these cutbacks are difficult, painful,” Samaras said. “But they are also inevitable. For without them the country would return to zero credibility and effectively leave the euro. Which would… destroy the country.”

Talking about his recent trips to Berlin and Paris, Samaras said “first of all we changed the climate in Europe which was the first condition to remain in the euro. If we want to have a recovery we must stick to the euro and also bring liquidity to our economy. We regained some of our credibility and told the Europe leadership that we need recovery. We asked Europe to stop the harsh statements against our country,” the PM said, protothema.gr writes.

A draft of the austerity package list was given yesterday to coalition leaders, who will meet again, before next week’s visit by the EC-ECB-IMF troika.

According to Kathimerini.gr, austerity cuts being proposed are even harsher than expected. These include the abolition of the traditional holiday payments (at Easter, Christmas and summer) for all pensioners, not just former civil servants (savings EUR 2.5 billion). It also emerged that the ax will likely fall on all pensions above EUR 800, with cuts starting at 2% and reaching 20% for the highest levels. The government hopes to raise EUR 4.5 billion through pension cuts alone.

The proposed package also foresees fresh cuts to healthcare (EUR 1.3 billion), some EUR 500 million of cutbacks in defense and EUR 750 million in cutbacks to local authority subsidies.

Cuts to special payrolls of certain categories of civil servants such as judicial and military staff as well as priests will reach 12%, according to the proposal, which aims to raise EUR 800 million in this area. It is likely that police officers and other members of security forces with dangerous jobs, will be excluded from this measure.

As for civil servants, the likely scenario involves between 35,000 and 40,000 employees leaving the public sector by 2014, either through early retirement or for failing to pass an evaluation. Another 110,000 are to leave the service by 2015 either through retirement or the termination of their contracts, Kathimerini.gr writes.

According to protothema.gr, disagreement remains within the coalition as regards cuts of pension bonuses, main pensions and special payrolls, as well as disability benefits, all discussed during Wednesday’s night meeting between the leaders of the three ruling parties.

Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras will meet the heads of the troika on Sunday (Sep. 9), to present the new austerity package, a finance ministry official said yesterday.

Troika officials are to arrive on September 5 and travel to Nicosia on September 13 ahead of a Eurogroup summit there on September 14.

Yesterday, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras met with cabinet colleagues to discuss cuts in special payrolls in civil service, with uniform employees to remain the big issue. Media report proposals to foresee reductions of 6% for armed forces employees and of 20% for judicial employees.

A European spokesman indicated that a much-awaited report on Greece’s economic reform progress would probably be ready in early October, according to Kathimerini. “The troika will return to Athens in early September to begin the concluding phase of the first review of the second program for Greece,” Simon O’Connor, spokesman for European Monetary and Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, told reporters, adding that the envoys’ mission was expected to “take several weeks.” According to a report in Germany’s Rheinische Post, the report will be out in “early October” due to delays in moving forward with privatizations.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister sent out a message of optimism at the Acropolis Museum, during a brief speech on the presentation of the historic silver cup awarded to Spyros Louis in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. “Today, Greece takes part in a whole new marathon. It is an event, which tests the strength, the will and the athlete. This contest can be won through the heart and the mind,” said Antonis Samaras. “So we will win this marathon,” he said, expressing optimism that Greece will overcome all obstacles.

The “Friends of Syria” conference, which was held in Paris on Friday, called in its final statement for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

Members of Syria’s opposition at the Paris meeting said the international community is still moving too slowly and called for a military measure to end the crisis, according to Al Arabiya.

The meeting came amid reports that Manaf Tlas, a Syrian general and personal friend of Assad has defected and fled Syria.

According to French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Friday, the son of Mustafa Tlas, who served as defence minister for 30 years under former president Hafez al-Assad and Bashar al-Assad had defected and was heading for Paris, Al Jazeera reported.

The meeting in Paris follows a gathering in Tunis and another in Istanbul, both of which called in vain for stiffer action against Assad’s government. China and Russia did not attend either of those meetings.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged world powers to show Russia and China would “pay a price” for blocking progress toward a democratic transition in Syria.

In response to Clinton’s comments Russia said on Friday, that Washington’s suggestion that Moscow should “pay a price” for helping the Syrian regime stay in power was “incorrect” and refused such allegations.