Euro zone finance ministers told their Greek counterpart on Saturday that Athens must go beyond an initial set of proposals for reforms if it wants them to open negotiations on a bailout, euro zone sources said.
Meeting in Brussels as the Eurogroup, the ministers took a break from their plenary discussions after some three hours.
Two sources said there was consensus among the other 18 ministers around the table that the leftist government in Athens must take further steps to convince them it would honour any new debts.
However, the Finnish national broadcaster YLE said that the country’s government does not consider the Greek proposal on its debt sufficient to start negotiations with Greece, while the Austrian chancellor sees good chance of Greece deal.
The chances for a third bailout programme for Greece are improving, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann told newspaper Oesterreich in an interview to be published on Sunday.
“We are certainly closer to a deal than we were earlier. I would even say the chances for an agreement for a Greece bailout programme have never been so good as they are now,” he said.
“However, we are still far from a final yes for the bailout because some countries have lost trust in Greece.”
Faymann said Greece would have to improve its offer because it now needed more than the originally named €53bn.
He said again: “We must avoid a Grexit – that would set Europe back. So we must seek a constructive solution.”
Faymann said such a solution would not mean a haircut for creditors but a reduction of the interest burden by giving Greece longer to pay back its debt.
Meanwhile, Greek government officials said that German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has not raised the possibility of Greece exiting the euro zone at crisis talks in Brussels discussing aid for Athens.
“The issue of a Grexit has not been raised by anyone, including Schaeuble, at the Eurogroup meeting,” a Greek government official told Reuters.
Earlier, Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) reported Germany’s Finance Ministry suggested two alternative courses for Athens including a “timeout” from the euro zone.
According to the report, the ministry set out two alternative courses for Greece. Under the first, Athens would improve its proposals quickly and transfer assets worth €50bn to a fund in order to pay down its debt.
Under the second scenario, Greece would take a “timeout” from the euro zone of at least five years and restructure its debt, while remaining a member of the European Union.
