Luxembourg

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde warned Greece on Thursday that it would get no extra time to make a huge 1.6-billion-euro debt payment due at the end of the month.

"There will be no period of grace," Lagarde told reporters in Luxembourg where eurozone finance ministers are meeting, adding: "No delay of one month or two as I heard; it's due June 30."

By Eleni Varvitsiotis

As European finance ministers arrived in Luxembourg on Thursday for a Eurogroup meeting which was not expected to break the impasse in Greece's bailout talks, officials were now examining the possibility of an emergency eurozone summit in Brussels on June 25, on the sidelines of a European Council taking place on the same day.

Among officials arriving in Luxembourg for the keenly awaited eurozone meeting there is a distinct lack of optimism over the prospects of a Greek deal.

Pierre Moscovici, the European Union's top economy official, says the meeting will be "very difficult" but that he hopes everyone turns up "with cool heads and the political will to succeed."

European leaders were contemplating a mini-summit on Greece on the sidelines of the European Council scheduled to take place in Brussels on June 25 and 26, Kathimerini understands.

The euro will not fall if Greece quits the single currency area, German central bank chief Jens Weidmann said in a newspaper interview published on Thursday.

By Patrick Donahue

Chancellor Angela Merkel said a deal with Greece is still possible provided the country is willing to follow through on promises made to creditors earlier this year.

Eurozone finance ministers were set to hold crunch talks over Greece Thursday, after a barrage of warnings that the country risks a damaging exit from the EU if it fails to strike a deal with its creditors.

Expectations are low for significant progress in Greece?s talks with its lenders at Thursday?s meeting of finance ministers in Luxembourg, despite a brief phone call between European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras last night.

The European Central Bank on Wednesday raised the maximum emergency funding that Greek banks can obtain by 1.1 billion euros ($1.24 billion), a banking source told AFP.

European Union governments agreed June 17 to extend economic sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine by six months until Jan. 31, diplomats said, maintaining unity in the West's tough stance toward Moscow.