Multi-speed Europe

Imports of energy and lifesaving medicines top the list of products in jeopardy if Greece defaults on its debt and moves closer to exiting the eurozone.

The threat to vital supplies is increasingly exercising policymakers, companies and traders as an impasse in negotiations between Athens and international creditors provokes alarm in financial markets.

European officials seem to be discussing the possibility of holding an extraordinary summit on the Greek matter, if there is no result in Thursday’s Eurogroup, according to FT reporter Peter Spiegel.

Germany wants Greece to remain in the eurozone but it is up to Athens to agree a package of reform measures with its international creditors that brings the necessary fiscal and structural effects, a German government spokesman said.

The Eurozone must be prepared for anything with respect to Greece, European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo published on Monday.

By John O'Donnell

Fearful that one of eurozone's members could drop out of the bloc, the European Central Bank is set to keep Greece on a funding drip until the end of the month but a default will leave it little choice but to start turning off life support.

By Eleni Varvitsiotis

Brussels - The Greek government has been given 24 hours to come up with its own counter-proposals to the ones already made by the institutions with the aim of reaching an agreement to unlock 7.2 billion euros in bailout funds.

Germany, the eurozone’s paymaster, is reportedly considering an offer to the Greek government to free-up bailout funds in return for at least one reform demanded by creditors.

Bloomberg quotes two people it says are “familiar” Berlin’s position.

It’s not clear which reform the leftist Greek government would commit to as comprising the key to “seal the deal”.

It’s official, Greece remains in recession for yet another quarter, shrinking by 0.2 percent in the first three months of 2015.

However, as the SYRIZA government entered its fourth month of negotiations with international creditors in a desperate bid to resume funding, the rest of the Eurozone and EU-28 grew by 0.4 percent.

Romania and the Czech Republic recorded the highest economic growth in the European Union in Q1 2015 compared to the similar period of the previous year, with an advance of 4.2 percent each, the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) informs, cited by AFP.

The three Augusta helicopters that are supposed to be patrolling Bulgaria's borders with Serbia, Macedonia, and Turkey have been grounded at the airport in Bezmer due to the lack of aviation insurance.

In November 2014 Bulgaria's Border Police unit launched a public procurement procedure for the insurance of the three helicopters, according to reports of Pressa daily.