Greece to convince EU that bailout change won't cost more

(ATHENS) - Greece is trying to convince its eurozone partners that spreading out its fiscal adjustment programme will not burden them financially, government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou said on Tuesday.

Speaking to radio station To Vima, Kedikoglou said Greece is "already discussing" the possibility of an extension of the deadline to reduce its public deficit by less than three percent of the GDP.

"Our plans show that additional funding from other EU members will not be necessary," he added.

Greece is hoping to receive a two-year extension that will enable the recession-struck country to carry out its programme of spending cuts and asset sales through 2016 instead of by the end of 2014.

Conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras recently met with his counterparts in Berlin and Paris in an attempt to ensure the eurozone's backing to the heavily indebted country.

Samaras presented proposals indicating that a delay "will cost nothing more to the member states, no endorsement from 17 parliaments will be necessary," Kedikoglou added to Mega television station.

"More time does not automatically mean more money," Samaras had told German daily Bild ahead of his meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande last week.

But German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble replied that "more time would, in case of doubt, mean more money," in an interview to SWR radio.

Berlin's future stance will depend on the report of the auditors from Greece's creditors -- the EU, IMF and European Central Bank -- which is expected in early October.

University of Athens economics professor Panagiotis Petrakis said Greece is well aware that it might not receive additional aid in the form of loans.

"Evidently, more time does mean more money but there are many ways to finance" a possible extension, he told AFP.

"The best (solution) would be a restructuring of Greek sovereign debt held by the ECB," he said.

In mid-August, the Financial Times had reported that the Greek government would need an additional 20 billion euros to cover the budget shortfall in case of a two-year extension.

The business daily had claimed Greece would not ask the EU for additional funds but would seek to delay beginning to repay rescue loans from 2016 to 2020, tap an existing IMF loan and issue additional short-term treausry bills.

Other financial analysts calculate the cost of an extension to 60 billion euros.