Greek finmin hopes debt deal avoids selective default: AP

Greece hopes euro zone leaders on Thursday can reach a debt deal to secure its funding up to mid-2014 without triggering a selective default rating, the country's finance minister told the Associated Press.

"Our aim is to avoid even a selective default," Evangelos Venizelos told the news agency in an interview late on Monday. "There are proposals that provide an answer to what is sought and at the same time do not permit rating agencies to issue that rating," he said. European governments and banks are struggling to reconcile competing proposals for a second bailout for Greece, two days before leaders meet to prevent the crisis from spreading through the region. A summit of euro zone leaders, scheduled for Thursday in Brussels, will seek to agree on a new rescue package for Greece, supplementing a 110 billion euro (USD 154 billion) bailout launched in May last year. "We want a solution that makes our national debt sustainable ... guarantees Greece's borrowing needs until mid-2014 when we foresee our return to markets and guarantees the liquidity of Greek banks," the minister said. Venizelos also told the agency he believes a debt deal can be reached on Thursday to prevent contagion in the 17-country currency club. "Reaching a solution is attainable because this solution does not only include Greece. At issue is the euro and the resilience of the euro zone," he said. "That is why the protection of Greece is a self-defence mechanism for the euro zone. That will help us avoid a domino effect."