GREECE just got to the starting line after 17 hours of what was described by one EU diplomat as “water boarding” on its path to staying in the eurozone, writes Ann Cahill

The embattled PM must convince parliament to vote in favour of deal and could face open mutiny, writes Kostas Karkagiannis

Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras’s plan to hold a referendum tomorrow on creditors’ demands for austerity has prompted a breakdown in talks with lenders, forced Greece to shut banks, and left its future in the eurozone in doubt.

Eurozone finance ministers have returned to Brussels for a fifth attempt to agree a Greek deal as its government teeters on the brink.

Greece’s proposal to use “non-professional inspectors” including “students, housekeepers and even tourists” to crack down on tax evasion has earned the government wide scorn from political opponents and on the internet.

Greece committed itself to seven pages of reforms from streamlining tax and Vat systems to alleviating poverty through non-pecuniary measures such as food stamps.

A senior minister in Greece's governing conservatives has conceded defeat to the radical left Syriza party after today's general election.

Football sometimes seems like politics in disguise but in Greece, the opposite is also true, writes David Shonfield.

The German government believes that the eurozone would now be able to cope with a Greek exit if that proved necessary, the Der Spiegel news magazine reported.

Greece’s splintered political landscape means small, often relatively new parties may determine whether the winner of elections next month can cobble together a lasting government and avoid a new financial crisis.

Greece’s Supreme Court has cleared the extreme right Golden Dawn party to contest the May 25 election to the European Parliament, despite it being prosecuted by authorities as a “criminal organisation”.

About 15,000 protesters converged on the Greek capital’s main square outside Parliament tonight, ahead of a vote by MPs on the 2013 budget which would once more cut pensions and salaries so Greece can qualify for its next vital batch of rescue loans.

Greece’s fragile coalition government faces its toughest test when lawmakers vote on new painful austerity measures demanded to keep the country afloat, on the second day of a nationwide general strike.

Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras said a deputy from his centre-right party who has expressed opposition to new austerity measures is no longer part of the parliamentary group and asks that he be stripped of his party membership as well.

Greece’s new three-party coalition government won a late-night vote of confidence in parliament, ending a period of uncertainty that led to two elections in less than two months.

Greece moved to end its protracted political impasse yesterday, swearing in a new prime minister to lead a largely pro-bailout coalition tasked with saving the country's place in the eurozone and easing a European financial crisis with global repercussions.

The three parties backing Greece's bailout deal have agreed to form a coalition government and are negotiating final details.

A coalition government could be formed by later today in Greece, the head of the country’s socialist party has said.

Greek conservative leader Antonis Samaras is starting coalition talks after winning elections that follow weeks of uncertainty over the debt-crippled country’s future in the eurozone.

Fears of an imminent Greek exit from Europe’s joint currency receded after the conservative New Democracy party came first in a critical election and pro-bailout parties won enough seats to form a joint government.

Hopes that the euro crisis — as well as austerity measures imposed on countries such as Ireland — might ease have been raised by the outcome of the Greek and French elections.

It could take up to a week to form the new Greek government, but the impact of the French elections will be felt immediately in the EU.

The New Democracy party came in first in Greece’s election today and immediately proposed forming a pro-euro coalition government – a development that eased, at least briefly, deep fears that the vote would unleash an economic tsunami.

Greece’s conservative New Democracy party is set to come first in an election that is crucial for Europe and the world, exit polls showed tonight.

Tomorrow is the start of a critical few weeks forEurope when the fate of Greece, the euro and the weaker eurozone countries could well change for ever.

Greece could be pushed out of the euro if the anti-bailout parties win a majority.

The spokesman for Greece's extremist far-right Golden Dawn party caused an uproar today when he physically assaulted two left-wing deputies on live television during a morning political show.

The leader of a left-wing party in Greece has renewed a pledge to scrap the country’s bailout commitments after retaking a lead in opinion polls ahead of crucial national elections on June 17.

Just as the news coming from Athens augured a little better for the future of the eurozone, the word from Madrid plunged the future of the embattled currency back into doubt.

Greek stock markets rebounded strongly today from a 22-year low on hopes a pro-bailout party will win crucial national elections next month, which would avoid a catastrophic rift with international creditors and keep the struggling country within the eurozone.

Opinion polls have indicated that Greece's second election in just over a month will result in no single party gaining a majority in parliament, but two pro-austerity mainstream parties could form a coalition government.

GREECE is going through one of its periodic self-mutilations.

Greece’s newly installed caretaker prime minister began talks with party leaders ahead of this week’s EU summit that’s expected to focus on ways of kick-starting economic growth across the continent.

G8 leaders said they want debt-stricken Greece to stay in the eurozone at a Camp David summit, as the group papered over deep-seated divisions about how best to tackle the eurozone crisis.

President Karolos Papoulias has dissolved the Parliament elected on May 6 and set a new election date for June 17.

Senior judge Panagiotis Pikramenos was named Greece’s caretaker prime minister today, and new elections will be held on June 17, according to reports on state TV.

Greece is headed for another month of political paralysis ahead of new elections in mid-June after party leaders failed to agree a coalition government.

Fierce political rivalries have kept Greece from resolving its leadership crisis, with an anti-bailout party refusing to return to power-sharing talks.

Efforts to form a new Government in Greece have received a fresh blow after the leader of the moderate Democratic Left party said he would not take part in a coalition without the more radical leftist Syriza party.

Greek political leaders ignored a final plea from the president to form a coalition government to avert a repeat election, pushing the debt-stricken nation closer to bankruptcy and a possible exit from the eurozone.

The Greek left-wing leader Alexis Tsipras has said a deal has been brokered for a new government, but it will not involve his Syriza party.

A meeting convened by Greek President Karolos Papoulias with three main party leaders to try to break the deadlock and broker a coalition government deal has ended.

Greece’s president will meet political party leaders today in a last-chance effort to broker a deal for a coalition government and avoid another general election.

Efforts to form a coalition have failed, Greece’s socialist leader and former finance minister said last night.