No pension decision before Dec 2

Pensioners will have to wait until the December 2 Eurogroup meeting to find out whether their pensions will be cut further a few days later, sources from Athens say following contacts with the European creditors.

Eurozone officials have told the government that they will probably have insufficient data before December to make such a decision, the same sources said.

The Eurogroup meeting before that will take place on November 5, by which time the final budget draft will not be ready - as it will not be submitted to Parliament until November 21.

The creditors appear determined to wait until the last moment so they can examine the latest data on revenues and expenditure in 2018 before making credible projections for 2019. Not cutting pensions will mean extra spending of almost 2 billion euros next year.

The government claims that despite this it will...