Roundup: Eurogroup meeting ends without progress on Greek debt deal

A meeting of the euro zone's finance ministers in Luxembourg on Thursday evening ended with no progress on a Greek debt deal.

The agony and uncertainty of the past five months whether Greece will continue standing on its feet with the support of international creditors or financially collapse in coming weeks, risking a Grexit, was extended.

The Greek thriller drags on to next Monday, when an emergency euro zone leaders' summit will convene in Brussels, just a few days before the regular EU summit on June 25, it was announced after Thursday's Eurogroup talks.

As time was perilously running out Pierre Moscovici, the European Commissioner for Financial Affairs, warned during a press conference at the end of the meeting that the end game was getting closer.

Without a compromise deal that would unlock further international financing, on June 30 Greece may not manage to repay some 1.5 billion euros (1.7 billion U.S. dollars) loan installments to International Monetary Fund, bringing the country closer to default.

On June 30 expires the extension of the previous bailout the two sides had agreed on in February to allow time to set the conditions of their future cooperation for the resolution of the crisis. Without an agreement Greece is left to continue on its own with no alternative helping hands in sight.

After Thursday's talks Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem said that "too little progress has been made" and no agreement was in sight.

Noting that the clock was ticking he urged the Greek side to submit new credible counterproposals for fiscal adjustment measures and reforms in exchange of cash and seize the last chance to reach a deal in coming days.

In case of a last minute agreement the bailout could be extended again, he said, as Christine Lagarde, IMF's Managing Director also called Greece to table reasonable proposals.

On the other side in statements to media after the meeting Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis argued that the Greek side has already "presented a comprehensive draft deal proposal which could deal with the debt crisis permanently."

Dismissing criticism over Greece's stance in the five month negotiations, the Greek official insisted that "there is still time to reach a deal."

Varoufakis stressed that "all European political leaders had the responsibility to achieve a positive outcome, as European citizens expect."

In the first reactions in Athens media commentators underlined that Greece's counterparts sent a strong signal to the Greek leftist government on Thursday that they did not intend to back down from their demand for new revised proposals from the Greek side for a clear and viable solution.

Under the best case scenario in coming days creditors could grant Greece a new extension of the current bailout under strict conditions until a final agreement is reached in a few months hopefully, Yannis Pretenderis said on Mega tv channel.

Otherwise, the Plan B both sides rejected over the past five years will soon be placed on the table: a Greek bankruptcy within or outside the European single currency zone, he added, pointing to veiled and open warnings lately by some European partners.

Everything will depend on the summit meeting next week, Antonis Karakoussis, Managing Editor of newspaper "Vima" (Tribune) stressed.

If the Greek government does not secure an agreement with creditors soon, then a credit event will occur and the Greek economy will collapse, he warned. Endit