Eurozone finance ministers will hold a conference call Wednesday on Greece, which is seeking the long-delayed payment of debt rescue funds to avoid bankruptcy next month, a spokesman said.
A conference call on Wednesday has been confirmed, said a spokesman for the head of the eurozone finance ministers’ group, Jean-Claude Juncker, adding that “for the moment, no other (ministers’) meetings have been arranged.”
European sources said Friday they did not expect any final decision to be taken Wednesday but that would depend on what was accomplished Monday in the Euro Working Group of senior eurozone officials.
“We should be able to see better after that,” one of the sources said.
Monday’s meeting is to review Greek progress on its bailout economic targets to see if it has met the terms to allow payment of the next, crucial aid tranche worth 31.5 billion euros ($40.7 billion).
It will also look at a Greek request for its debt rescue programme to be extended by two years to 2016, to spread out the pain caused by stinging austerity measures Athens has had to adopt in return for help.
“The debate is focused on the extension but the first step is the confirmation by the troika (EU, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank) that the aid payment can be made,” one source said.
A European source said Friday that an extension for Greece would cost between 20 and 30 billion euros.
(source: eubusiness)
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