ATHENS - Four Greek coalition government ministers resigned on Friday afternoon over the new painful austerity package, local media reported.

The interim administration of Prime Minister Lucas Papademos agreed to the package on Thursday under pressure from international lenders in exchange for a second vital bailout plan to avoid a Greek financial collapse next month.

Alternate Foreign Minister Marilisa Xenogiannakopoulou of the socialist PASOK party which supports the transitional coalition announced her decision to resign at the start of a cabinet meeting in Athens that would give "green light" to the new austerity deal ahead of a parliamentary vote scheduled for Sunday.

She could not vote for the new round of salary cuts that will add more burden on Greek people, she said in a letter of resignation addressed to the prime minister and released to Greek media.

A few minutes ago, Infrastructure, Transport and Networks Minister Makis Voridis, Deputy Agriculture Development Minister Asterios Rondoulis and Development, Competitiveness and Shipping Deputy Minister Adonis Georgiadis, all members of the rightist Popular Orthodox Rally (Laos) party, had sent similar letters of resignations to Papademos.

LAO's leader George Karatzaferis had announced during a press briefing at noon that his party will reject the deal, but will not walk out from the coalition government.

On Thursday, Deputy Labor Minister Yiannis Koutsoukos, a PASOK lawmaker, had also resigned, denouncing the fresh austerity.

Under these developments, political commentators in Athens expected a wide cabinet reshuffle from Papademos in coming hours, expressing anxiety over the result in the parliamentary vote on Sunday. An increasing number of lawmakers warned that they will cast negative votes.

But the ratification of the spending cuts and structural reforms by the assembly is a precondition to the release of further multi-billion funding by the European Commission and International Monetary Fund (IMF) creditors in the coming weeks in time to avoid default in March. 

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