Merkel wants to keep Greece in euro zone

German Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated on Thursday that her government wanted to keep Greece in the euro zone, but the indebted country must stick to its promised structural reforms in order to reach a deal with international creditors.

In a speech to Bundestag, the lower house of German parliament, Merkel said Germany was making efforts to keep Greece in the euro zone.

Despite the current stalemate of negotiations between Athens and its international creditors, a cash-for-reform agreement was still possible, Merkel said.

"Where there's a will, there's a way," she said.

Merkel stressed that structural reforms were the prerequisite for fresh money from creditors, citing other indebted countries such as Portugal, Spain and Ireland who had taken painful reforms for external aids.

Greece was on the same track, the chancellor said, but major structural reforms were always dragged.

She urged the Greek government to muster its political will in order to reach an agreement with the European Union (EU), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank to unlock the outstanding payment of 7.2 billion euros (about 8.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the current bailout program which expires at the end of June.

Greece urgently needs fresh money from creditors without which it will default at the end of June when a repayment of 1.5 billion euros to the IMF is due.

Finance ministers of the euro zone were scheduled to meet in Luxemburg on Thursday afternoon. Analysts said it could be the last chance for Greece to get necessary money in time for repayment to the IMF.

On Wednesday, Greece's central bank warned that Greece would head to default and a potential exit from the euro zone as well as the EU should a deal not be clinched soon with international creditors. (1 euro = 1.14 U.S. dollars) Endit