Any Greece deal must be in line with party manifesto - minister

(Reuters) - Any deal Greece signs with its creditors to avoid default must be in line with the pledges the ruling party were elected on in January and also include debt restructuring, the deputy labour minister said on Monday. "For there to be a deal it will have to be in line with Syriza's election programme," Deputy Labour Minister Dimitris Stratoulis told Antenna television on a morning news show. Greece will also refuse to cut pensions and wages, and rejects lenders' demands to curb early retirement benefits immediately. The European Union has welcomed new proposals from Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras as a "good basis for progress" at talks on Monday where creditors want 11-hour concessions to haul Athens back from the brink of bankruptcy. (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou and Karolina Tagaris; writing by Matthias Williams)