Economy of the European Union

Greece will make every effort to reach an agreement with representatives of the country's creditors by Monday's Eurogroup summit but will not resort to action that would "offend the sovereignty of the nation and of the people," government spokesman Gavriil Sakellaridis told Skai television on Friday.

By Yiannis Papadoyiannis

The European Central Bank sent another warning signal to Greece on Thursday by granting a small increase in the cash available to local lenders via the emergency liquidity assistance (ELA), which only just covers the current needs of the country?s credit system.

Greek officials will meet representatives from the EU, ECB and IMF soon - most likely in Brussels on Friday - to prepare Monday's key Eurogroup meeting on debt talks, an EU official said on Thursday.

The European Central Bank has extended the total amount of Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) that can be given to Greek banks by 5 billion euros ($5.7 billion), German newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Thursday.

Additional debt relief will not help pull Greece out its current crisis, the head of the German central bank or Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann, said on Thursday.

By Renee Maltezou & John O'Donnell

The European Central Bank raised pressure on Greece on Thursday to extend a bailout deal with its international creditors as new leftist prime minister Alexis Tsipras told EU leaders austerity is killing his economy and they must find an alternative.

By Jeremy Gaunt

'Grexit' would be sudden, sharp and probably conducted in the dark of night; if Greece were to quit the euro, it would also mark the beginning of a long, hard road - for some harder still than the one already travelled.

The new leftist government wants to keep the country in the currency union, as do its eurozone counterparts.

Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb stated on Thursday that Greece faces the prospect of a "dirty exit" from the euro zone, unless it sticks with its reform program.

A draft statement by eurozone finance ministers on how to handle Greece's finances spoke of "extending" its current bailout deal as a "bridge" to a new package, according to a copy of the draft that was rejected by Athens.

Wednesday's Eurogroup ended without agreement between Greece and its eurozone partners but also without a joint statement on how to move forward.

"We explored a number of issues, one of which was the current program," Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem told a news conference in the early hours on Thursday in Brussels.