Eurogroup to discuss Greece's situation next week

Brussels, Feb 6 (IANS/EFE) Finance ministers of the eurozone member states will hold a meeting next Wednesday in Brussels to discuss the situation of Greece, European Union (EU) sources said Friday.

The meeting will take place Feb 11 and will be the first to be attended by Greece's newly-appointed Finance Minister, Yannis Varoufakis, who has already met with some of his counterparts on a European tour.

The Brussels meeting will be held just one day before EU heads of states and governments convene an informal summit, which will be the first time for Alexis Tsipras to join them as prime minister of Greece.

The 19 eurozone ministers are set to listen to Greek proposals regarding the future of European assistance to the country, as Athens is keen on reaching a temporary "bridging" deal that would allow its financial system to function until June.

Such an agreement would give more time for Greece to negotiate a more comprehensive deal on debt restructuring and debt swaps, including two types of new bonds -- one indexed to nominal economic growth and other bonds to replace European Central Bank-owned Greek bonds.

The bridging agreement is necessary because the current European support agreement is set to expire Feb 28.

The eurogroup meeting was convened following a series of high-level meetings this week by the Greek prime minister and his finance minister in Paris, London, Rome, Brussels, Frankfurt and Berlin.

During those talks, Greece's European partners insisted that Athens comply with commitments made by the previous government and continue with reform measures.

They also underlined the importance of respecting the outcome of Greece's recent elections and democracy in the country.

Earlier, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in a meeting in Berlin Thursday that he and his Greek counterpart Yannis Varoufakis, "agreed to disagree".

That encounter came a day after the ECB announced it would stop accepting bonds issued by Greece to guarantee loans.

However, Greek banks still have access to the Emergency Liquidity Assistance programme.

Greece's debt amounts to $361 billion, upwards of 175 percent of the country's gross domestic product, with 20 percent of that amount owed to private creditors.

--IANS/EFE

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