Eurozone foreign ministers unanimously affirmed their "unshakeable desire" to keep Greece in the single currency club at a meeting which ended late last night.

Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker said the ministers from the 17-nation Eurogroup meeting in Brussels expressed an "unshakeable desire to keep Greece within the eurozone," stressing: "We will do everything possible to achieve that."

Juncker maintained that the idea of "Greece outside the eurozone was not a subject of debate -- absolutely no-one argued in that direction" during four hours of talks at European Union headquarters.

"The Eurogroup looks forward to the swift formation of a new Greek government to take ownership of the (bailout) programme and a sufficient parliamentary majority to implement fully the policy conditionality," Juncker said of ongoing efforts in Athens to agree a stable administration following elections that returned a majority of anti-austerity MPs.

Juncker insisted that EU partners had already granted Greece 148 billion euros of loans, but while he maintained that "the Eurogroup is fully aware of the significant efforts already made by the Greek ciztizens," he underlined: "This is not the time to relax these efforts."

EU economy commissioner Olli Rehn added that Greek party leaders, who will on Tuesday attempt to agree on a temporary technocrat government such as that set up in Italy, face a grave responsibility at "this very critical juncture."

Rehn stressed: "The future welfare of Greece and its citizens lies more than ever on the shoulders of the Greek politicians to keep their part of the solidarity pact."