Confident of finding Greek debt solution in May: German FinMin

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said he was optimistic about striking a deal on Greek debt in May to prevent the country going bankruptcy this summer.

"I'm still confident that we'll get a solution in May," Schaeuble said before joining an extraordinary Eurogroup meeting to discuss Greek debt.

He said he did not expect a final agreement to be reached on Monday. The Greek parliament approved a contentious law overhauling the social security and tax system earlier in the day.

"One should tell the people in Greece that the idea behind the bailout plan is to help them," Schaeuble said, responding to the large-scale protests in Greece trigged by the thorny tax and pension reform bill.

In the official agenda for Monday's meeting, the Eurogroup said it would assess the progress made to conclude the review which was supposed to have been completed six months ago.

The review of how effective Athens has been in making required austerity measures would pave the way for the release of the next part of the loan.

Greece is in urgent need of fresh aid from creditors to repay 300 million euros (341 million U.S. dollars) to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and 2.3 billion euros to the European Central Bank in June.

International creditors agreed last year to give Greece 86 billion euros in bailout loans. Analysts said the IMF believes Athens must get debt relief for its economy to develop, while Germany insists Greece can do without debt relief for now.

Schaeuble and Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos met ahead of the Eurogroup meeting in Brussels. Sources said they were trying to work out a compromise.

The next Eurogroup meeting, scheduled for May 24, will further discuss the Greek debt saga.

Meanwhile, the Eurogroup meeting on Greek debt only lasted a few hours and ended without concrete deal on Monday, according to Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem at a press conference. Endit