Venizelos :Greece 'blackmailed and humiliated

Greece has been "blackmailed and humiliated", the country's finance minister has said.Evangelos Venizelos said that to stop the situation, the country had to move ahead with its deficit reduction work so it could meet its financial targets.He is expected to speak to European and International Monetary Fund officials later about the release of the next round of bailout funds.Greece needs this money by next month to avoid defaulting on its debt.Mr Venizelos said: "If we want to stabilise the situation, if we want to avert default, if we want to remain in the core of the eurozone, if we want the country to stop being blackmailed and humiliated - because no citizen should have to put up with humiliation of their country - we have to make three large strategic decisions as part of our national strategy."We should not be the scapegoat or the easy excuse that will be used by European and international institutions in order to hide their own lack of competence to manage the crisis”Evangelos Venizelos Greek Finance MinisterThe European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed 110bn euros ($151bn; £96bn) of bailout funds for Greece in May of last year.A further 109bn euros was provisionally agreed in July of this year, but this still needs ratifying by a number of parliaments in eurozone member states.The Greek government on Sunday held cabinet crisis talks over what new austerity measures to put in place to help secure its next EU-IMF loan instalment.It had been due to get the go-ahead to receive 8bn euros this month, but eurozone leaders delayed the decision until October following concerns that Greece was not doing enough to reduce its spending.Ahead of the talks with EU and IMF officials, Mr Venizelos appeared to be critical of their leaders.He said: "We should not be the scapegoat or the easy excuse that will be used by European and international institutions in order to hide their own lack of competence to manage the crisis and give a definitive and complete answer to the attacks against euro, the world's strongest currency." From / BBC