Eurozone steps up pressure on Greece

The eurozone told Greece it must accept tough EU surveillance if it is to close a stalled bailout by next week, despite meeting key hurdles at yesterday’s talks.

Three-and-a-half hours of a video conference between finance ministers, at which hardliners pressed for rigid day-to-day management of Greek state revenues and expenditure in Athens, ended with an upbeat initial assessment.

'I am confident that the Eurogroup will be able to take all the necessary decisions on Monday,' Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the group of eurozone finance ministers, said of face-to-face talks in Brussels.

He said Greece had delivered on three conditions laid down at their last gathering six days earlier, before partners would consider completing the €230-billion financial rescue that will keep Greece inside the single currency area. Mr Juncker said that Greek coalition leaders gave 'strong assurances' that austerity and reform would be upheld by whoever wins an April general election, while foreign auditors provided an analysis of Greek debt sustainability and Athens found an extra €325 million in cuts.

Greece additionally put forward 'a detailed list of prior actions' it must complete, 'together with a timeline for their implementation,' he added.

However, with trust in Greece wearing thin, Mr Juncker said 'further considerations' were necessary on how to supervise Greek decision-making once in receipt of aid, and 'to ensure that priority is given to debt servicing.'

That came after eurozone Treasury directors endorsed a plan on Tuesday to set up an 'escrow,' or blocked account, to ensure Greece services debt owed to eurozone partners. The so-called troika of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund is already working on this in Athens, a senior eurozone governmental source said.

With Greece facing €14.5 billion in bond repayments on March 20, tempers frayed in the months-long tug-of-war over the bailout.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaueble began the day with a radio warning: 'We can help but we are not going to pour money into a bottomless pit.'

Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told his countrymen that 'there are several (eurozone countries) who no longer want us.'

Diplomats and officials had said beforehand that ministers could use Monday's meeting to launch a bond swap offer aimed at shaving €100 billion off Greece's debt mountain of about €350 billion.