No room for delay, PM Tsipras tells cabinet meeting (ADDS)

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras stressed the need for coordination and collective effort. "Society cannot tolerate any delays," he said, according to a government source.

The same source said that the officials participating in the meeting estimated that the Greek banks' recapitalisation needs will be lower than the initial forecast of 25 billion euros and expressed optimism for a positive outcome.

They also said that contacts with the representatives of the institutions were held in a good climate.

According to a press release from the prime minister's office, the government's goal is that this recapitalisation of banks will be the last, noting that banks had been assisted with significant funds in the past without results.

"A condition for a successful recapitalisation is that this will be combined with the issue of managing non-performing loans," the government said, adding that the goal was to establish rules of transparency in the banking system that will make it a "tool for economic growth and stability, far from the untransparent policies and gratuitous loans that led to the current crisis."

The press office noted that protection of homes and the economically vulnerable remained a matter of principle for the government, which also put great weight on completing the bank recapitalisation quickly and definitely by the end of the current year. All necessary actions in this direction will be taken and the relevant law unveiled for public dialogue within the next week, it said.