Greece's new conservative-led coalition government said on Thursday in its first pronouncement that it planned to revise the country's EU-IMF loan bailout while safeguarding its place in the eurozone.

A joint statement by the conservative, socialist and moderate leftist parties said the government aimed "to revise terms of the loan agreement without endangering the country's European course and its place in the euro" during its four-year term.
 
The coalition is headed by the New Democracy party and backed by the Pasok socialists and the small Democratic Left party. It can count on 179 deputies in the 300-seat parliament. The new team also pledged to honour Greece's targets on deficit reduction, debt control and structural reforms.
 
"The goal is to create the conditions to take the country out of the crisis for good and out of dependence on loan agreements in the future," the statement said. The Eurogroup of finance ministers meanwhile gathered in Luxembourg, for what is expected to be a battle on the Greek and Spanish fronts as well as a huddle on runaway borrowing costs for Italy and a last-minute Cypriot cry for help.

Greece is hoping for a two-year extension to 2016 for its recovery plan and a further loan of up to 20 billion euros ($25 billion), a finance ministry source said on Wednesday, according to the state-run Athens News Agency.

[SOURCE: AFP]