Sarkozy warns Greece that time is running out

The leaders of France and Germany have demanded that Greek political leaders give an undertaking they will agree to the terms of proposed second bailout worth €130bn. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said that time was running out for a deal to be agreed, while the German Chancellor Angela Merkel said time was of the essence. Despite that pressure, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos has postponed talks between the country's coalition party leaders until tomorrow afternoon. The latest deadline for conclusion of the bailout discussions came this morning at 10am Irish time, however no deal was secured. The politicians are said to have made progress on the package, which includes thousands of civil services lay-offs and the minimum wage being cut by 20%. Mr Papademos postponed the talks so that he could hold further negotiations with officials from the European Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. It is now expected that a text of a deal will be presented to the party leaders either tonight or tomorrow morning and, after consulting their MPs, they will meet the Prime Minister tomorrow afternoon to give their verdict. In Brussels, EU officials said Greece was already in "overtime" after failing to clinch an agreement on the package at the weekend. With Greece facing €14.5bn of debt repayments in March, a bill it cannot meet without further bailout funds, the stakes could not be higher.