MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

A majority of Germans feel Euro block would be better off without Greece

Technocrat Prime Minister Lucas Papademos must convince party leaders

The majority of Germans feel the Euro currency bloc would be better off if debt-crippled Greece left it, a poll published in mass-selling newspaper Bild am Sonntag showed.

The Emnid poll said 53% of Germans surveyed thought Greece should return to its former currency, the drachma, while only 34% felt it should keep the Euro.

Euro zone ministers had hoped to meet this coming Monday to finalise the second Greek bailout, which must be in place by mid-March to prevent a chaotic default, but the meeting was postponed because of reluctance in Athens to commit to reforms.

Without the austerity measures, which include cutting holiday bonuses and lowering the minimum wage in a country reeling from its fifth year of recession, the ministers say they cannot approve the 130 billion Euro rescue plan.

The Emnid poll said 80% of Germans surveyed opposes releasing the rescue package unless Greece implements the reforms.

Meanwhile it was reported that Greece's coalition parties must tell the European Union by Monday whether they accept the painful terms of a new bailout deal.

Technocrat Prime Minister Lucas Papademos put on a brave face on Sunday as he tried to get leaders of the three parties in his government to sign off on terms of a 130 billion Euro rescue.

Papademos said in a statement the party chiefs - who may face angry voters in parliamentary polls as soon as April - had agreed measures including wage cuts and other reforms as part of spending cuts worth 1.5% of gross domestic product.

But a spokesman for the PASOK socialist party said a number of major issues demanded by the “Troika”, representing Greece's EU, European Central Bank and IMF lenders, remained unresolved late on Sunday.

PASOK, the conservative New Democracy and far-right LAOS must respond to a working group of senior Euro zone finance ministry officials who are preparing for a meeting of their ministers later in the week.