Greece sets date to present full reforms as it seeks to avert catastrophe

Greece will present a comprehensive economic reform package by 30 March, a government spokesman said on Tuesday (24 March).

Athens must present its reform programme to its creditors before they release the next instalment of its financial bailout. The measures that it has submitted so far have been too vague to secure the approval of the Eurogroup.

With the government running out of money and the possibility of bankruptcy and default looming as soon as April, Athens has sped up its work to define the cost-cutting and revenue raising measures that will satisfy the groups that are keeping it afloat.

Euros have poured out of Greek banks in recent weeks, with €2bn (£1.5bn, $2.2bn) being withdrawn in a single day last week, in a sign that individuals and institutions are losing faith in Greece's left wing government's ability to keep the country in the eurozone and stick to the promises that it made to the electorate.

"It will be done at the latest by Monday," government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis told a Greek television channel.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Monday (23 March), as the pair sought to mend relations after a tense few weeks.

Some Greek ministers have called for Germany to pay massive reparations dating back to the Nazi occupation of the Greece, a claim that Germany insists has no legal basis.

The 'finger episode', when Yanis Varoufakis was shown raising his middle finger at Germany during a speech in a photograph that turned out to be a hoax, further tainted the charismatic Greek finance minister's already low standing in Europe.

Tsipras's flirtation with the Kremlin, which has offered to provide hefty financial aid to the debt-laden European nation, has also raised eyebrows in Brussels.

Sakellaridis said Merkel and Tsipras discussed the Greek economic reforms on Monday but did not go in to detail.