Greece must decide by
Friday whether to seek an extension of its current bailout
program if it wants to continue working with the Eurogroup of
finance ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, chairman of the eurozone
ministers, said Monday.
"The best way forward would be for the Greek authorities to
seek an extension of the programme," Dijsselbloem said after
crisis meetings on the Greek situation.
If Greece agrees to extend the program, then meetings could
resume Friday on future "arrangements", said Dijsselbloem.
"An extension is the only way forward," added Pierre
Moscovici, European Union commissioner for economic and
financial affairs.
That came after leaders of Greece's newly elected
government said that an offer from ministers on its debt issues
was "absurd" and "unacceptable".
Premier Alexis Tsipras has proposed a new bailout program
that would involve a bridge loan and help in refinancing and
repaying massive amounts of debt without the arduous conditions
imposed under the expiring plan.
Technical talks were held Friday and Saturday as well as a
phone conversation between European Commission President
Jean-Claude Juncker and Tsipras aimed finding a new arrangement
to replace the current pact that ends February 28.
As finance ministers gathered, Germany's Wolfgang Schaeuble
did not sound interested in shifting that country's firm stance
on demanding Greece live up to the current deal signed by
Greece's former government for a 240-billion-euro bailout.
"The decision is up to Greece," on next steps, said
Schaeuble, who in an interview early on Monday with German radio
said that the new Greek government was acting "pretty
irresponsibly".
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