ITV News - Greek PM: Key talks

Talks in Athens, that could to lead to the resignation of the Greek prime minister, are pressing ahead.

The country's politicians have spent the weekend bickering over how to deal with its debt mountain.

Greek opposition leader Antonis Samaras said today that Prime Minister George Papandreou is hindering any solution to breaking a political impasse as long as he stays in power.

"I am determined to help provided that Papandreou resigns, everything will take its course," Samaras said.

However the Greek people appeared to have little faith in their political leader's ability to form this proposed government ahead of the talks held today.

"At the time when Greece is facing existentialist challenges, I think both the parties are operating only in the individual interest and don't care about the implications and reactions of the rest of the society," said Tassos Kromydas, an Ecologist Party MP in the European Parliament.

Others complained there was no real will for collaboration across the political spectrum.

Athens resident Stylianos Lagarakis said: "Right now I have the feeling that they are mostly fooling us.

Collaboration is a very nice thing, but from the beginning we saw that nobody wants to collaborate. What interests them most is nothing more than their political identity and their positions."

In an impassioned plea to parliament late on Friday, Papandreou agreed to step aside as premier if necessary to help hammer out a coalition, offering to include the conservative opposition party - a possibility swiftly rejected by its leader.

Papandreou said a new coalition government would need four months to secure the new 130 billion euro ($US179 billion) rescue agreement and demonstrate the country's commitment to remaining in the eurozone.

Samaras did not make explicitly clear whether he would join the proposed coalition government but said he is willing to help if Papandreou steps down.

Here Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander said the UK could potentially give up to £40bn to help with the global economic crisis.

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