| 1 | ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Greece has agreed on the broad terms of a new three-year bailout package with international creditors, with a few last details expected to be ironed out Tuesday. |
| 2 | Finalizing quickly the deal for about 85 billion euros ($93 billion) in new loans would prevent the country from defaulting on its debts next week and secure its future in the euro. |
| 3 | "We are very close. Two or three very small details remain," Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said as he emerged Tuesday morning from all-night discussions with the creditors' negotiators. |
| 4 | The European Commission, a key negotiator in the talks, confirmed the progress. |
| 5 | "The institutions and the Greek authorities achieved an agreement in-principle on a technical basis and talks are still ongoing on finalizing details," said Annika Breidthardt, the Commission's spokeswoman for economic affairs. |
| 6 | She said the details were expected to be cleared up Tuesday. |
| 7 | She noted that an agreement still requires approval from higher-level representatives, and that senior finance officials from the 28 EU nations would hold a conference call later Tuesday. |
| 8 | Greece's government is hoping to push an agreement through parliament this week, ahead of a meeting between eurozone finance ministers on Friday. |
| 9 | Germany, the largest single contributor to Greece's two previous bailouts and among the toughest negotiators so far, remained cautious on the timing. |
| 10 | "We will have to examine the results that come in the course of today," deputy finance minister Jens Spahn told n-tv television. |
| 11 | Investors cheered the news of progress. |
| 12 | Greece's government borrowing rates fell, a sign investors are less worried about a default. |
| 13 | The 2-year bond yield dropped by 4.2 percentage points to 14.73 percent. |
| 14 | The Athens Stock Exchange, which reopened recently after being shut for five weeks during the most severe part of Greece's financial crisis, was up 2.2 percent in midday trading. |
| 15 | Cash-strapped Greece needs more money by Aug. 20 at the latest, when it has a debt repayment of just over 3 billion euros to make to the European Central Bank. |
| 16 | A draft of the agreement cited by the Greek daily Kathimerini said the deal included a package of more than 30 measures that would have to be voted on in Greece's Parliament immediately, followed by a second package of measures to be adopted from October onwards. |
| 17 | The government released some technical details of the deal, saying it had agreed to have a 0.25 percent government deficit this year and a 0.5 percent surplus next year, when not counting the cost of servicing debt. |
| 18 | Greece has agreed to achieving so-called primary surpluses of 1.75 percent in 2017 and 3.5 percent in 2018, the government said in an emailed note. |
| 19 | The pledges mean the country has avoided having to impose budget savings worth about 20 billion euros, it said. |
| 20 | "This practically means that with the current agreement there will be no fiscal burden - in other words new measures - in the immediate future," the note read. |
| 21 | Banks will be strengthened with new cash infusions by the end of the year and will have an immediate boost of "at least 10 billion euros," it said. |
| 22 | The government insists this means there is no longer any danger that the banks may have to raid bank deposits to restore their financial health. |
| 23 | The government also said that banks will not make repossessions and auctions of primary residences will not occur within 2015. |
| 24 | The deal is opposed by many in the governing left-wing Syriza party, who say the spending cuts go against the government's pledges when it was elected in January. |
| 25 | Syriza lawmaker and dissenter Costas Lapavitsas said he would not vote in favor of the new deal in Parliament. |
| 26 | "Left-wing governments must take left-wing actions," he said on private Mega television. |