European Union

By Karl Stagno Navarra & Alessandro Speciale

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi told Greek officials they face a critical situation and must let euro-area representatives return to Athens if they are ever going to obtain more aid, according to two European officials.

Here's the full text released following Monday's Eurogroup meeting:

Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis explained during the press conference following Eurogroup on Monday how the matter of a referendum came to pass. He said that in the framework of a conference in Italy, he explained why there should not be an exit from the euro. The specific journalist heard this and asked for an interview.

Representatives of the Greek government and the country?s international creditors are to start ?technical level? talks in Brussels Wednesday, it was decided Monday following a summit of eurozone finance ministers where the government submitted a set of seven proposals for economic reforms.

FinMin Yanis Varoufakis gives an interview after today’s Eurogroup

Greece agreed to start urgent technical talks on extending its crucial bailout on Wednesday after its eurozone partners accused debt-stricken Athens of wasting time in previous negotiations.

Representatives of the “institutions” — the way the new leftist government wants to refer to EC, ECB and IMF officials — will carry out inspections in Athens as well, Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem emphasized after a Eurogroup meeting in Brussels on Monday.

An express meeting of the Eurogroup on the Greek issue was concluded at 16:00 GMT after just 90 minutes into the meeting.
 

According to Reuters, which quotes a European Union official, there will be no official announcement on Greece, while ministers seem to have requested “progress” on the issues on the part of the Greek government.

The five members of the European Parliament sent a letter to the Energy Community on Monday expressing their concern about the lack of implementation of strong environmental safeguards in the energy sector among EU candidate countries.

They urged the Energy Community to ensure that the best practices on environmental and social protection are followed by such countries.

Since a deal to extend Greece's bailout program last month, deposit levels in Greek banks appear to have been stabilizing, with some days of net inflows as well as some of net outflows, an ECB source said on Monday.