President of the European Commission

Greece needs to work on a five-year plan with its creditors and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in principle agrees on this, Austria's Chancellor Werner Faymann told reporters on Tuesday.

By Jan Strupczewski

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Some eurozone countries are accusing the European Commission of giving Greece false hope of new loans for less reform effort, but they still want Brussels to find a way to keep a defiant Athens in the euro.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Friday greeted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban with the words, "hello, dictator."

AFP said in its report that Juncker in this way "teased Orban over his strongman reputation."

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has vowed never to wear a tie until he had secured a deal for Greece. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker grabbed the Greek PM at the European Council meeting of EU leaders at Riga, Latvia, on Friday and shared his tie with him. Earlier, Juncker had told German weekly business news magazine, WirtschaftsWoche, that Greece needs to stay in the euro.

By Jonathan Stearns

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he expects an international agreement unlocking emergency aid for Greece to be reached by early next month.

Athens must take major steps to compromise with its international creditors but a Greek exit from the eurozone is not an option, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said.

Greece and its international creditors held constructive talks on Greece's debt crisis over the weekend but more work remains to be done, the European Commission said on Monday.

Former European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso believes the Greek government has undermined its effort to secure a better deal from lenders by making «completely unrealistic demands,» such as debt forgiveness, and making mistakes that were due to a "lack of experience or ideological reasons."

The energy union, Greece and how to boost the economy were all hotly debated during a discussion on last week's Council summit and during the European Parliament's plenary session on March 25. MEPs welcomed plans for closer collaboration on energy issues, but also called attention to the situation in Greece.

Greece must move on with long-delayed structural reforms in order to restore the confidence of the markets, the former President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso has said while blaming the country's financial woes on the failings of Greek politicians.