President of Greece to Give up €283,000 Salary

The president of Greece will waive his €283,000 (£235,000) salary as the nation inches towards securing an EU bailout.

Finance minister Evangelos Vanizelos announced the move by Karolos Papoulias as the country prepared to meet eurozone conditions to unlock a €130bn loan to save it from bankruptcy.

Following a meeting with the president, Vanizelos said that "only a few issues remain" as Greece's coalition leaders made statements backing reforms to plug a €325m hole in its budget.

Conservative leader Antonis Samaras and socialist leader George Papandreou have each sent their own written pledges to the EU to abide by the conditions of the bailout.

A teleconference is due to be held in which Greece will attempt to prove to the eurozone that it fulfills all of them.

Vanizelos claimed that too many people in Greece were "playing with fire" regarding the country's eurozone membership.

"We have to tell the Greek people the truth," he said. "There are several [eurozone countries] who no longer want us - and we must convince them.

"The country is on a knife edge," he added.

The EU and International Monetary Fund will not approve the bailout until Greece accounts for all of its budget cuts.

Vanizelos stressed that all problems would be solved during the teleconference.