Athens rebuffs reports that more tax, pension hikes are in store

Government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos on Thursday insisted that a dragging bailout review would be completed in the coming weeks without any need for Greece to impose further austerity measures.

"Illogical demands and demands that fall outside the existing agreement will not be accepted," Tzanakopoulos told reporters at a weekly briefing.

The spokesman expressed conviction that an agreement on the nature of the medium-term measures for relieving Greece's debt burden would be adequate to conclude the review. He rebuffed reports suggesting that additional increases in value-added tax, further cuts to pensions and a reduction of the tax-free threshold will be needed.

The key obstacle to the conclusion of the review is political in nature, not technical, he said, apparently referring to the fact that the role of the International Monetary Fund in the program -...