ATHENS: Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras returned to action on Thursday after major eye surgery that sidelined him for two weeks, just in time for crucial meetings with the country's international creditors.
The 61-year-old conservative, who leads a three-party coalition formed after June 17 elections, will at 1000 GMT confer with officials from the EU, International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank who are monitoring Greece's economic reform efforts agreed in return for rescue loans.
Crisis-hit Athens is now drawing funds from a 130-billion-euro ($164 billion) lifeline but Samaras and his allies want to renegotiate the agreement to avoid further job losses and put more emphasis on growth rather than austerity.
"It is our decision to avert further sacrifices at all cost because Greeks cannot take any more," government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou told Real FM radio.
The government will point to worsening data figures to argue for an easing in salary and pension cuts.
"We believe that by presenting accurate, undeniable data on the current condition of the Greek economy, particularly as regards recession and unemployment indices, our peers will understand that there is no sense in pursuing certain measures," Kedikoglou said.
The Greek economy is in its fifth year of recession and officials warn that it could contract by 6.7 percent in 2012, much worse than an earlier forecast of 4.5 percent.
But Greece's creditors still want to see progress on reforms agreed in return for its bailout, and officials admit that little has been done in the past two months as the country held two electoral campaigns before a workable government could emerge.
"I'm not in a negotiations or renegotiations mood at all, we are in a fact-finding mood," IMF chief Christine Lagarde told CNBC on Tuesday.
"I'm very interested in seeing what has been done in the last few months, in terms of complying with the programme," she said of the Greek situation.
The government is expected to promise to redouble privatisation efforts in the hope of persuading creditors that Greece remains on the right path and is ready to rejoin the world economy.
A wan-looking Samaras earlier on Thursday stood by as his new finance minister Yiannis Stournaras took his oath of office.
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