Greek government-debt crisis

Greece remains relatively unlikely to leave the eurozone, ratings agency Moody's said on Wednesday, despite the prospect of an anti-bailout leftist party winning a snap election on Jan. 25.

Greek election favorites SYRIZA on Tuesday ruled out cooperation with George Papandreou?s newly launched Movement of Democratic Socialists after the January 25 ballot, as the Communist Party (KKE) went on to snub Alexis Tsipras?s own political overture.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will meet with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Wednesday morning and is expected to express support for his fellow conservative leader as Greece moves into the final stretch of its election campaign, in which New Democracy will focus on the premier?s still-intact popularity.

Steering clear of any anti-bailout rhetoric and offering lukewarm assurances of honoring Greece?s commitments, poll-leading SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras has fueled market hopes that the change in government expected after the January 25 election will not have too dramatic an impact on the country and the eurozone, leading the local stock market to further gains on Tuesday.

By Marcus Bensasson & Elliott Gotkine

Greece could stumble out of the euro by accident if a new government fails to reach an agreement with international creditors soon after this month?s election, Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis said.

German taxpayers should not be afraid of a Greek government led by the left-wing SYRIZA party, its leader Alexis Tsipras wrote in an article published on Tuesday in a German business daily.

A new theory has made its way into our everyday discourse and has even featured in major international newspapers: the conviction that the head of the main opposition, Alexis Tsipras, will make a complete about-turn from his current positions if his SYRIZA party wins the elections and that there is no reason to worry.

European Central Bank policymaker Ewald Nowotny thinks that a Greek exit from the eurozone would be a disaster for Greece, he said on Monday.

"For Greece it would a catastrophe, for the other euro countries a massive problem," Nowotny said an event in Vienna.

If the current government remains in power after the January 25 elections it would negotiate for part of Greece's debt, currently at around 170 percent of GDP, to be transformed from a floating to a fixed rate, Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis said on Monday night.

The head of the group of eurozone finance ministers promised Tuesday to work with the winner of the upcoming Greek election, but urged Athens to stick with austerity.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the president of the Eurogroup who also serves as the Dutch finance minister, also stressed that the region could offer more help should Greece keep its promise to reform.