After a scarring week in which its financial markets were hammered, Greece looks to its European peers to seal the terms on an EU-IMF debt support plan as it prepares to raise fresh loans on Tuesday.
Athens hopes that a Sunday discussion by EU finance ministers from states sharing the euro will finalize a mechanism providing last-ditch borrowing should its own efforts to bankroll a costly shakeup of its economy fail.
Euro zone finance ministers were to discuss the Greek debt crisis in a conference call at 2:00 pm (1200 GMT) with the aim of "finalizing aid mechanisms for Greece," a Spanish official said on Saturday.
Spain currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
Greece has insisted it only intends to activate EU-backed loans -- which under the deal will also involve the International Monetary Fund -- as a last resort. The plan's main use, Athens says, is to deter speculators who have sought to capitalize on its pressing need for funds.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou described the agreement as a "gun on the table" which is about to be loaded.
"After the latest developments, with the terms now set, the gun on the table will be loaded," he told To Vima daily in an interview to appear on Sunday.
"Speculators will know this," the PM said according to excerpts of the interview that appeared on a website operated by To Vima's parent media group.
"The question is whether this mechanism will persuade the markets purely as a gun on the table. If it does not, it is a mechanism that exists and could be used," he added.
Greece has labored for months to lower its borrowing costs but uncertainty surrounding the EU fall-back plan and market reaction to contradictory claims attributed to Greek officials had steadily dashed its hopes.
The yield on Greek 10-year bonds last week soared past 7.5 percent, its highest since 1998, while the Athens stock exchange lost eight percent of its value in three days before a 3.4-percent gain on Friday.
The run on Greek paper was sparked after a report in Market News International, quoting an unidentified Greek government official, claiming that Athens wanted to modify the EU support deal to exclude the IMF.
"We must make the agreement operational," EU President Herman Van Rompuy told France's Le Monde daily on Friday. "It won't be credible unless it is operational."
One of the main credit rating agencies Fitch concurred as it hit Greece with its latest sovereign debt downgrade on Friday, cutting the country's long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings to BBB- from BBB+.
It warned that it is "vital that the Greek authorities import credibility from external institutions, underpinned by a credible commitment of financial support".
Greece has suffered successive credit downgrades from Fitch and the other two major agencies, Moody's and S&P, heightening its risk profile among investors.
Priming the EU aid mechanism for use would come at exactly the right time for Greece which on Tuesday intends to auction a 1.2 billion euro (1.6 billion dollars) package in treasury bills.
It also intends to hold a road show in the United States later in April after meeting dwindling demand in its euro-denominated bond sales last month.
Citing two senior government officials, Dow Jones Newswires on Friday said Greece is seeking to sell bonds worth between five and ten billion dollars.
"We will go to the US and do whatever it takes to collect the 5-10 billion from the dollar bond," one of the officials told the agency.
Greece has to find around 11.5 billion euros (15.5 billion dollars) by next month to cover its obligations, part of a total loan blueprint of around 54 billion euros planned for this year to cover debt repayment and urgent budget needs. Its total debt stands at nearly 300 billion euros.
The government has also set itself the unprecedented task of reducing a budget deficit now over 30 billion euros by four percentage points this year.
Analysts said the way the crisis has evolved and how it would be resolved would have profound implications for the credibility of the European Central Bank and the euro zone.
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