Europe Wrangles Over Greece; Finance Ministers Struggle With Long-Term Fix, but Get Closer on Short-Term Cash
(Please see Corrections and Amplifications below.)</br></br>European finance ministers meeting Sunday in Luxembourg moved toward approving a fresh quarterly installment of Greece's [euro]110 billion ($157 billion) bailout loan, but they remained divided over the details of a far harder task--extending Greece a giant new package that would support it for years to come.</br></br>Meanwhile, finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven industrialized countries held a conference call late Sunday to discuss the crisis, according to people familiar with the matter. Natalie Wyeth, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Treasury Department, confirmed a G-7 conference call was held but declined to provide any details. A senior euro-zone official said the U.S. urged a fast resolution of the Greek issue.</br></br>In Athens, Prime Minister George Papandreou said his country was negotiating a new deal of roughly the same size as the one granted just last year--about another [euro]100 billion--and urged his parliament to back him in a vote of confidence scheduled for Tuesday. The Greek premier, fresh from a cabinet reshuffle meant to lift his political fortunes, will travel to Brussels on Monday for talks with European Union leaders.</br></br>Europe thought it had put Greece's troubles to rest last spring with a mammoth bailout that rewrote the contract among the euro's member countries. Now, Greece needs more help, and there's fatigue all around.