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World

Greece: No deal with debt inspectors; disagreement on job cuts, home foreclosures

Associated Press
Published | Updated
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    A protester holds his head behind a banner during a protest outside Health Ministry in Athens, Friday, Nov. 29, 2013. Greek state hospitals are functioning with emergency staff as doctors and staff hold a 24-hour strike against planned health cutbacks enforced under the country's harsh austerity program. Unions are angry at the conservative-led government's plans to suspend and reallocate staff as part of its drive to reform the public sector and reduce the budget deficit. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) (The Associated Press)

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    A woman with a dog walks past a group of protesters outside the Health Ministry office in the northern Greek port city of Thessaloniki, Friday Nov. 29, 2013. Greek state hospitals are functioning with emergency staff as doctors and staff hold a 24-hour strike against planned health cutbacks enforced under the country's harsh austerity program. Unions are angry at the conservative-led government's plans to suspend and reallocate staff as part of its drive to reform the public sector and reduce the budget deficit. (AP Photo/Nikolas Giakoumidis) (The Associated Press)

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    A demonstrator holds a flag and a placard that reads in Greek "Solidarity to the P??r", during a protest outside the Health Ministry office in the northern Greek port city of Thessaloniki, Friday, Nov. 29, 2013. Greek state hospitals are functioning with emergency staff as doctors and staff hold a 24-hour strike against planned health cutbacks enforced under the country's harsh austerity program. Unions are angry at the conservative-led government's plans to suspend and reallocate staff as part of its drive to reform the public sector and reduce the budget deficit. (AP Photo/Nikolas Giakoumidis) (The Associated Press)

ATHENS, Greece – Bailout inspectors postponed a trip to Athens next week, as government officials acknowledged key issues remained unresolved in negotiations needed for future rescue loan payouts.

Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said Friday that inspectors from the "troika" of the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund would likely travel to Greece the following week.

"We still have not reached an agreement today on several issues ... The aim is to have this concluded by the end of the year," he said.

Greece and rescue lenders remain at odds over austerity measures needed to cover a 2014 budget gap, and the course of various long-term reforms including mass public sector job cuts.

The government is also resisting troika pressure to lift blanket protection measures for distressed home loans.

"The government has made a commitment that the homes of the poor or people in economic difficulty will not be endangered," deputy Development Minister Athanasios Skordas told private Mega television.

"Clearly there is no agreement on this issue. I think everyone understands that. The (troika) has moved some distance from their initial and absolute position, but not as far as we would like."

State hospitals, meanwhile, were operating with emergency staff Friday as doctors and staff held a 24-hour strike against planned health cuts under the country's harsh austerity program.

Strikers held a protest outside the Health Ministry building in central Athens, and about 2,500 people marched peacefully to Parliament.

Demonstrators included doctors from the state primary health care system — who have extended a strike launched Tuesday until Dec. 9 — as well as residents of Aegean Sea islands who say reforms will deplete local health services.

Health unions are angry at the conservative-led government's plans to suspend and reallocate staff as part of its drive to reform the public sector and reduce the budget deficit.