Greek government-debt crisis

Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos chaired a meeting of ministers Wednesday in preparation for the Greek-Turkish High-Level Cooperation Council, which is due to take place in Athens on December 5 and 6, and advised them that the upcoming talks would focus on high politics,

The government and main opposition party on Wednesday played down the possibility of a meeting between Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras amid the strained negotiations between Greece and the troika.

Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis was meeting with deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos at 10 a.m. on Wednesday to discuss the apparent deadlock in ongoing negotiations between the Greek government and troika representatives.

Stavros Theodorakis, leader of the centrist To Potami party, will meet with conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

It will be the first official meeting between the two leaders. Scheduled talks between the two were cancelled in October after Samaras called for a confidence vote.

Greece's leftist opposition on Wednesday said that SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras would accept an invitation to meet with conservative Prime Minister Antonis Tsipras, ruling out however any consensus on matters related to the Greek debt.

A teleconference between troika and Greek government officials on Tuesday led to the lenders’ estimate for next year’s fiscal gap being reduced but not to the point where the two sides are in full agreement over the content of the 2015 budget, which is due to be submitted to Parliament this week.

Greece’s bonds fell on Tuesday on reports talks are deadlocked over the nation’s next aid disbursement.

Greek 10-year yields rose the most in more than two weeks as the government and its international creditors remained deadlocked over a final round of measures required to release the last tranche of the country’s bailout, two people familiar with the negotiations said.

The Independent Greeks parliamentary group on Tuesday backed the party’s decision not to support any candidate to succeed President Karolos Papoulias in February’s election, regardless of who the nominee is.

Greek Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis on Tuesday called for calm in tense negotiations with the country's international creditors.

Pressure on the government to make concessions to the troika grew on Monday as European officials indicated that a review by the country’s creditors must resume within the next couple of days if it is to be completed in time for a Eurogroup summit on December 8 when Greece’s post-bailout prospects are to be discussed.