Eurogroup

Euro zone finance ministers will take no decision on Monday on any extension of Greece's bailout program, which expires at the end of the year, the bloc's top economics official said.

Finance Minister Gikas Hardouvelis heads to a Eurogroup meeting on Monday with the troika yet to respond to Greece’s latest communication in the ongoing negotiations over the pending review.

Greece is preparing its response to the troika after the country’s lenders demanded a firmer commitment from Athens on fiscal and structural measures, which likely means that the current bailout will have to be extended by at least a month so an agreement can be reached.

The troika responded early Wednesday to the Greek government’s proposals for breaking a deadlock over the program review asking for fresh commitments and extra feedback from Athens before officials could resume their inspection, Kathimerini understands.

No details were made available on troika's new demands.

Eurozone finance ministers will discuss in early December conditions for providing Greece with credit when its current aid programme expires, German Finance Minster Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Sunday.

Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras has called for a compromise between Athens and the troika in an interview with Sunday’s Kathimerini, while also insisting that the eurozone should provide Greece with further debt relief.

The Greek government must take all the necessary measures so that troika inspectors return to Athens for their final assessment on Greece's reform program, EU Economic and Tax Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said Friday in Brussels.

Greece is set to ask for a brief extension to its current bailout and is discussing the possibility of the International Monetary Fund maintaining a prominent role in whatever program will follow, Kathimerini understands.

A Greek government delegation is to meet representatives of the country’s troika of international lenders in Paris on Tuesday for two days of talks aimed at bridging a rift between the two sides and relaunching a stalled economic review in a last-ditch attempt to prepare for a Eurogroup summit on December 8.

Greek government’s spokesman Sofia Voultepsi said that a meeting between representatives of the coalition and troika in Paris on Tuesday and Wednesday represent the “last phase” of negotiations between the two sides.

“The important thing is that a decision has been taken to get the process moving again,” Voultepsi told Vima FM.