A quick guide to the Greek crisis

(Reuters) - ATHENS/PARIS, June 27 (Reuters) - French banks have agreed to roll over holdings of Greek debt for 30 years, President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday, as the Greek government fought to persuade backbench rebels to back a crucial austerity plan to avert bankruptcy.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

With financial markets watching the Greek crisis anxiously, Sarkozy told a news conference in Paris that the French authorities had reached an agreement with the banks on a voluntary rollover of maturing bonds.

The news came as international bankers met euro zone policymakers in Rome to discuss how the private sector can share the burden of a second rescue program for Greece. That meeting, which focused on the French plan and other options, ended without decisions, but an Italian Treasury official said none was expected at this stage.

European Union officials were discussing the French idea with international bankers and the Institute of International Finance (IIF) in Rome on Monday, euro zone sources said, and German banks voiced interest in the "French model.

Greece's main labor unions called on Monday for massive turnout in a 48-hour strike this week which they said could help overthrow the austerity policies imposed by international lenders as the price for a bailout.

Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Josef Ackermann said on Monday the situation in Greece was "very critical," adding that the private sector was not prepared to "throw good money after bad."

Germany and China will discuss the euro and world currency system reforms during a visit by Premier Wen Jiabao, a German government source said, as Berlin said it would welcome more Chinese firms as long-term investors.

Greek banks have lost about 8 percent of their private-sector deposits so far this year as customers worried about Greece's potential debt default transferred funds abroad or bought gold, Moody's said on Monday.

WHAT'S NEXT?

* June 28-29 - Greek parliament to debate and vote on a 28 billion euro five-year austerity package agreed with the European Union and International Monetary Fund. A defeat of the legislation could pitch the country into default.

* Main labor unions to launch 48-hour strike on June 28-29 coinciding with deliberations on the austerity plan.

* July 3 - Deadline set by EU for Greek parliament to pass laws implementing the austerity package, including on privatizations, tax rises and spending cuts. Euro zone finance ministers will hold an extraordinary meeting the same day and have said Greece must pass the laws by then to obtain its next 12 billion euro tranche of bailout loans.

* Mid-July - Point by which Greece has said it will be unable to pay its debts if it does not get the new loan tranche.

WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?

Greece has a sovereign debt pile of 340 billion euros ($481.5 billion), more than 30,000 euros per person in a population of 11.3 million. The 110-billion-euro bailout Greece accepted last year from the European Union and International Monetary Fund has proved insufficient and a second package worth 120 billion euros is now under discussion. With its debt equivalent to 150 percent of annual output, Greece holds two unwanted world records: the lowest credit rating for a sovereign state, and the most expensive debt to insure. Its people have lost patience with an ever-deepening austerity drive that has slashed public sector wages by a fifth and pensions by a tenth.

Around 53 billion of the original 110 billion euro package has been paid out so far. The government estimates that Greek debt will reach about 350 billion euros at the end of this year, taking in EU/IMF aid tranches including the 12 billion euro emergency loan earmarked for July.

About 70 percent of Greece's debt is held abroad and the remainder at home. Greece is paying an average 4.2 percent interest rate on EU/IMF bailout loans.

WHY DOES IT MATTER OUTSIDE GREECE?

The longer the crisis drags on, the greater the risk that contagion will spread to other troubled euro zone economies like Ireland and Portugal, which have also been bailed out before, and Spain, which is much bigger and would be far more expensive -- perhaps too expensive -- to rescue.

A default by Greece would hammer the banks that hold its debt, including the European Central Bank and big French and German lenders. It could also prompt credit markets to freeze up, as happened after Lehman's demise when banks virtually stopped lending to each other.

The White House said on June 16 the Greek crisis was acting as a headwind to the U.S. economy but opinions vary as to the level of exposure of U.S. banks.

A Greek default would be a catastrophe and a humiliation for the European Union, which launched the euro in 1999 as its most ambitious project and a symbol of the continent's unity. It has prompted some commentators to think the unthinkable: that the euro zone might break up, either by the expulsion of Greece or the departure of Germany, the EU's paymaster, which might be tempted to return to its own currency.

SO WHY NOT JUST BAIL GREECE OUT AGAIN?

The EU's big players -- notably Germany, France and the European Central Bank -- have struggled to work out a rescue mechanism. European governments are keen to avoid a "hard default" because this could threaten banks throughout the euro zone and further afield.

They were therefore discussing a "soft landing" in the form of a debt extension or voluntary rollover by creditors, but some of the proposals have been criticized as a default by another name.

WHO ARE THE KEY PLAYERS?

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou last week reshuffled his government to quell dissent in his ruling Socialist party and gave the finance portfolio to Evangelos Venizelos, a party rival. Venizelos is a political heavyweight who ran the preparations for the 2004 Athens Olympics, but has no economic track record. Papandreou's government won a confidence vote in parliament on June 22.

At the European level, the single most influential figure is German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as head of the EU's biggest economy. Merkel, who is losing popularity and has suffered a string of defeats in state elections, is under intense pressure from a German public that resents footing the bill for what is widely seen as Greek profligacy -- hence her insistence that banks should share some of the pain. Merkel has been accused of holding up the second Greek aid package, further eroding investor confidence, which could make the bailout more expensive.

WHAT ABOUT THE GREEK PEOPLE?

Public disgruntlement over austerity -- including curbs on widespread early retirement, tax rises and cuts in benefits and wages -- has erupted into frequent strikes and protests, some of them violent. Unemployment is rising. In a poll last month, 80 percent of people said they refused to make any more sacrifices to get more EU/IMF aid. Bank and utility workers, public sector contractors and even doctors have taken to the streets. Private sector workers blame the bloated public sector, civil servants blame tax cheats and many Greeks blame corrupt politicians for the country's problems.

HOW DID IT COME TO THIS?

Greece, whose economy had grown strongly but suffered problems with corruption and bureaucracy, joined the euro zone a decade ago, linking its economy to other European countries.

It went into recession in 2009 after 15 years of growth and its budget deficit hit 15.4 percent of GDP after a series of revisions by the government which revealed the country's economy was in far worse shape than it had previously admitted.

Chronic problems include rampant tax evasion -- the labor minister has estimated a quarter of the economy pays nothing.

More broadly, the Greek crisis reflects an inherent weakness in the euro's structure -- a currency zone with a "one size fits all" interest rate for a set of widely divergent economies, and 17 different countries running their own fiscal policies.

How the crisis plays out will determine the failure or survival of the project.

(Editing by Mark Heinrich)

($1=.7061 Euro)