Greece's government is to finalise a multi-billion-euro reform drive demanded by its international creditors after weathering a late-night confidence vote.
Prime Minister George Papandreou is to chair an inner cabinet meeting on a new law to implement the austerity drive, worth over €28bn by 2015, his office said.
The reforms are demanded by the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank, which last year rescued Greece from imminent bankruptcy with a €110bn loan.
The money has so far enabled Athens to keep up with other loan obligations and pay wages and pensions, but the economic recovery plan that accompanied it has failed to break the country's financial isolation.
Struck with repeated downgrades of its sovereign debt status by rating agencies, Greece has been unable to raise new long-term loans and its available funds will run out next month if it cannot access a scheduled €12bn instalment from the bailout loan.
Athens needs nearly €7bn next month just to stay abreast of its loan repayments, a study by Greece's number two lender, EFG Eurobank, said this week.
To earn a new bailout, it effectively has two weeks to convince its European peers that it will carry out long-delayed reforms and privatisations.
Europe gave Greece an ultimatum to deliver on long-delayed reforms after the IMF recently warned it would hold back its share of loan payments in the absence of a clear roadmap on the Greek debt crisis.
'We have to pass two laws by 30 June so that procedures at the Eurogroup will move on 3 July, enabling the IMF to decide to release the fifth loan instalment on 8 July,' Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told parliament yesterday.
Mr Venizelos, newly promoted to the post from the defence ministry, said the government would pursue 'broader and faster' state operational cost cutbacks than those envisaged in talks with its creditors.
He also pledged a tax system overhaul and a spate of measures to boost development, making use of European regional cohesion funds.
This is a prospect already discussed in Brussels as a cost-effective way to help Greece without requesting new, unpopular loans from European taxpayers.
European Commission president José Manuel Barroso yesterday suggested the EU agree 'emergency' measures to pump up the Greek economy by swiftly unlocking up to €1bn from the bloc's budget.
The funds, often used for infrastructure and economic projects, require a nation to provide a percentage of the cost of each project.
But cash-strapped Greece currently is unable to put forward its share in any project, so cannot access funding.
An EU source said Brussels could advance the monies with Greece paying back its share at a later date.
Ball in Greek government's court - Kenny
The Taoiseach has said he hopes that the situation in Greece will not dominate this week's European Council meeting.
Speaking in the Dáil ahead of the meeting tomorrow, Enda Kenny said following last night's vote of confidence in the Greek government, the ball was now firmly in its court to get austerity measures through parliament.
He said the situation in Greece had significance for Ireland as the markets did not differentiate between different countries in the euro and he vowed to safeguard Irish interests at the meeting.
Mr Kenny also welcomed the change to the EU stability mechanism that should see Ireland return to the markets within the next two years.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said the agenda for the meeting was short and not ambitious.
Mr Martin criticised the European approach to the crisis as 'hands off' and said it had failed.
