By Stelios Bouras and Vanessa Mock
ATHENS--Greece's two leading pro-bailout parties were continuing efforts Tuesday to form a broad coalition government that would give them a comfortable parliamentary majority to proceed quickly with tough reforms while trying to ease some of the terms of the country's 173 billion euro ($218 billion) bailout.
Socialist party leader Evangelos Venizelos kicked off the day's talks by meeting with the head of the small Democratic Left party, Fotis Kouvelis, and called for a cross-party team that will be given the task of renegotiating the terms of the country's loan agreement, regardless of who exactly participates in a coalition government.
"I am optimistic after the meeting with Kouvelis. Our views largely converge and now what is necessary for us is to speed up procedures," he told reporters.
Although New Democracy won the most votes in Sunday's elections, it doesn't control enough seats to govern on its own and must seek a coalition partner to form a majority in Greece's 300-member parliament.
Its former coalition partner, Pasok--which also supports the country's European-led bailout--came in third in the vote. Combined, the two parties would control 162 seats, giving them a comfortable margin of support.
Faced with strident opposition in parliament from Greece's anti-austerity Syriza party--which came in a strong second in Sunday's vote--Messrs. Samaras and Venizelos have been trying to bring in other party leaders to gain broad backing for the tough decisions ahead.
One possible candidate is Democratic Left, which accepts the loan deal but wants an easing of the terms of the austerity measures.
Kouvelis said he will wait for a response from New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras on his proposals before deciding whether he will join the coalition government.
"I am waiting to have his very specific position on policy issues that I discussed. Policy issues are the decisive factor in forming a stable and efficient government," he said.
New Democracy and Pasok are ready to reach a deal on a coalition government even without support from Democratic Left and have already held advanced talks on forming a government, officials from both parties say.
Discussions have also centered on potential candidates for key posts in the next government. Two names have been floated as possible finance minister in the new government: former European Commissioner Stavros Dimas and former Development Minister Kostis Hadjidakis--both New Democracy members.
The new finance minister will be faced with the unenviable task of bringing Greece's derailed fiscal targets back on track after weeks of political paralysis and come up with EUR11.5 billion or more of new austerity measures demanded by the country's creditors, which could further inflame the public.
The new government faces many hurdles, with a central administration threatened by a cash crunch within weeks, an economy in free fall and an angry public exhausted by two years of austerity measures.
New Democracy and Pasok have been working on a plan to ask other euro-zone countries for an extra two years to meet Greece's fiscal targets, officials involved in the preparations have said. They estimate that Greece would need an additional EUR16 billion on top of its existing bailout if the program is extended by another two years.
On Tuesday, a senior European official indicated that Greece may be given some relaxation in the terms of its bailout program, when the terms of the rescue deal are revised this summer.
The official said the terms and conditions of its bailout, set out in a Memorandum of Understanding, would be recast to take account of substantial delays that Greek authorities face in meeting their targets as well as the "changing economic situation" in the country.
"If we were not to change the MOU we would be signing off on an illusion. There is scope for revision," the official said, adding that a new memorandum would be signed "during the summer."
The issue is likely to be discussed during this week's meeting of euro-zone finance ministers.
However, Amadeu Altafaj Tardio, spokesman for Economics Commissioner Olli Rehn, later Tuesday said he doesn't expect any kind of revised bailout plan for Greece.
Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter Tuesday told reporters there is room for discussion about which parts of the program should be fulfilled when.
The minister said she believes that Greece would have a stable government by Tuesday and hopes that a decision to send the troika of international creditors to Greece could happen at this week's meetings of finance ministers.
Europe is eager to help a new Greek government strengthen popular support for the country's tough bailout program and to combat Greece's deepening recession.
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who Monday ruled out any changes to the memorandum, is loath to increase the size of the Greek bailout, something that could split her fractious governing coalition in Berlin.
Ms. Merkel told a news conference during the summit of the Group of 20 leading industrial and developing economies in Los Cabos, Mexico, that Greece's leaders "must fulfill their commitments quickly" under the bailout deal.
Write to Stelios Bouras at [email protected]
--Nicole Lundeen in Vienna and Costas Paris and Alkman Granitsas in Athens contributed to this article