Euro zone meeting on Greece bailout has been canceled
An extraordinary meeting of eurozone finance ministers set for Wednesday evening to decide on a vital €130bn bailout for Greece has been postponed.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg prime minister, who chairs the eurogroup, cited the need to continue technical work as well as a lack of assurances from Greece’s leaders that they would comply with the tough terms attached to the bailout.
Mr Juncker said the format for the conference had been changed because he was still waiting to receive assurances from Greek political leaders over the implementation of a reform programme, and other technical work remained to be done.
“It has appeared that further technical work between Greece and the troika is needed in a number of areas, including the closure of the fiscal gap of €325m in 2012 and the debt sustainability analysis,” Mr Juncker said in a statement that followed a preparatory meeting for the event.
“Furthermore, I did not yet receive the required political assurances from the leaders of the Greek coalition parties on the implementation of the programme,” he said.
Ministers are expected to reconvene at a regularly scheduled meeting on Monday.
The delay heightens the risk that Greece will be forced into a disorderly default next month. It also highlights deepening divisions among fellow eurozone governments about the merits of continuing to support Athens.
The so-called euro working group, comprising finance ministry officials from all 17 eurozone member states, had been discussing the crisis as Greece struggles to seal a €200bn restructuring of privately held debt before a €14.5bn redemption due on March 20.
One eurozone official told the Financial Times on Monday that there were at least half a dozen items that Greece would have to accept before the deal would be submitted for approval by the finance ministers.