The government of newly elected PM Antonis Samaras, sought on Thursday to persuade sceptical lenders visiting Athens to ease the punishing terms of the bailout that is keeping the country solvent but at the cost of driving it deeper into recession.
Senior officials from Greece's trio of international lenders met with Samaras and Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras for the first time since Samaras's coalition government took power after the June elections.