Greek crisis deepens as austerity talks dies

However, international patience with Greece is fast running out.

This situation was exacerbated by the decision to postpone by one day a meeting due to start on Tuesday night, for the country's political leaders to approve a "final draft document" on austerity measures.

Although a raft of measures have been agreed, members of the three main parties had been scheduled to try to find another €1.3bn of cuts.

They will now meet on Wednesday night. Eurozone finance ministers have scheduled a meeting for Thursday to review the budgetary plans so the Greek parliament can vote on the measures at the weekend.

Greece needs international aid to avoid defaulting on a €14.5bn bond on March 20, but will not receive help without a deal.

But as Athens was once again plunged into chaos by strikes and violent demonstrations, some leaders argued that Europe should cut its losses with Greece.

Neelie Kroes, the Dutch vice-president of the European Commission (EC), told the Volkskrant newspaper: "It is absolutely not a case of man overboard if someone leaves the eurozone."

However, Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the EC and co-president of the EU, appealed for continued international support for Greece.

"The costs of a default of Greece, the costs of a possible exit of Greece from the euro, would be much higher than the costs of continuing to support Greece," he said. "This is very important. Of course, it also means Greece undertakes clearly, unambiguously, to make the necessary adjustment efforts."

He was backed by Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the Eurogroup. "If we force [Greece] out or push them so much that they resign, we would still be forced to support Greece and would today have to invest unimaginable sums. That would be at least as expensive as the costs of the aid credits up to now."

The chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, has vowed that he will shield America from the eurozone debt crisis.

"We are in frequent contact with European authorities, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely and take every available step to protect the US financial system and the economy," he said.

The Telegraph