Greek coalition leaders have arrived for crucial debt talks with the country's prime minister to review a draft deal on steep cutbacks demanded by creditors in return for a euro130 billion ($170 billion) bailout.

Leaders of three parties backing the coalition are under intense pressure to accept the new austerity demands and shield the country from a looming bankruptcy.

The meeting finally went ahead after three days of delays. Their decisions will be announced at a meeting with Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, after the parties were handed a 50-page English-language draft agreement, drawn up with the country's debt inspectors.

Greece has already accepted a demand to fire up to 15,000 workers in the public sector 2012, but is under pressure to impose deeper cuts, including reductions in pension payments and the minimum wage.

It was not clear whether the parties _ the majority Socialists, main rival conservatives, and small right-wing LAOS part _ would accept the demands.

"Austerity measures are like shoes that are too tight. Sooner or later, you want to kick them off," LAOS leader George Karatzaferis was quoted as saying by state TV.

The coalition talks have been repeatedly postponed this week to make time for exhaustive negotiations with representatives of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, on whose approval the continued flow of Greece's vital rescue loans depends.

Without the bailout, Greece would not have enough money to pay off a big bond redemption payment due on March. 20, triggering a default that risks sending shockwaves throughout financial markets and the global economy.

As anger mounts in Greece at the prospect of further economic pain, patience is running out abroad.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said Greece must swiftly return to a sustainable, viable path.

"This is not a question one can take a lot of time to tackle," Steffen Seibert said.

"It is important that the negotiations now come to an end."

Late Tuesday, Greece's private creditors signaled progress on a separate, linked agreement that would cut the country's privately held debt load by 50 percent, or some euro100 billion ($131 billion).

The intention is to ensure that Greece's long-term debts are sustainable. Banks, pension and hedge funds and other private sector holders of Greek debt are expected to swap their current bonds for new ones worth 50 percent less than the original face value, with longer repayment terms and a lower interest rate. They are also expected to get a euro30 billion payment as part of the bond swap deal.

Representatives of the Institute of International Finance, which has been leading the talks for private bondholders, had a "constructive meeting" with Papademos, IIF spokesman Frank Vogl said.

Papademos and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos will soon brief the rest of the 17-nation eurozone on the proposed deal, Vogl said.