Greek socialists given third chance at forming government "If Greece wants to remain in the euro zone, there is no better solution than the path it has already taken," said Wolfgang Schaeuble, the German finance minister, on Wednesday. Hitting back at calls in Greece and France for less fiscal restraint, Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that there was no "magic bullet" to resolve Europe's debt crisis. She said that fuelling growth by further deficit would only bring further trouble. "Growth on credit would throw us back to the start of the crisis and therefore we will not do that," she said in a speech to the lower house of parliament. EU officials said that Greece would receive a 4.2-billion-euro (£2.6 billion) loan as expected on Thursday, but a further one billion would be held back until Monday. Creditors have warned that the current loan tranche could be the last if Athens reneges on its reform commitments. The delay prompted some Greek newspapers to declare the country was being blackmailed by the EU. Mr Venizelos, leader of the Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement, or Pasok, has three days to complete his attempt at coalition-building, taking his turn after Mr Tsipras and Antonis Samaras, the leader of the centre-Right New Democracy, which finished a narrow first with 18.9 per cent. Voters punished both Pasok and the New Democracy for having pushed through austerity measures such as slashing government pensions and salaries in return for the international loans. The election reduced the two parties' combined presence in the 300-seat chamber to just 149 - including a 50-seat bonus for New Democracy for being the largest party - from 201 in the previous parliament. The other 151 seats are held by parties that campaigned against the austerity programme, from far-left groups such as the communists and Syriza to the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn, which won 21 seats. It is therefore difficult to see how Mr Venizelos could succeed. Responding to popular anger at a fifth year of recession and unemployment of 22 per cent, both mainstream parties now suggest the bail-out will have to be renegotiated, though they repeatedly state that Greece must do all it can to stay in the euro. The Pasok leader has said Athens needs to "look for the best amendment possible of the terms" of the agreed reforms, and Mr Samaras said renegotiating the bail-out was "certainly realistic."