Greece Seeks new Bailout by Late August

Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said on Tuesday that he hoped the European Union would conclude talks on a second bailout for Greece by the end of August, adding that reforms would be accelerated to secure the next tranche of rescue funding, due in September.
“The overall program … must be completed by the end of August,” Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said.
“We, Greece, are ready to enter a new program … We also want full coverage, not just for the country’s fiscal requirements, but for the stability of Greece’s financial and banking system”.
But Venizelos insisted that rating agency classifications should not be considered real financial events.
“A selective default is not a real event. In effect, it is an assessment, a rating level,” he said.
“We must not turn a perception into a self-fulfilling prophecy”.
Venizelos pledged to meet fiscal targets this year, with a view to achieving a primary surplus in 2012, and described revenue-boosting as “an existential need” for the country.