Frightened Eurogroup to speak by phone

Juncker - Eurogroup to speak by phone on Greece

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/02/14/uk-eurogroup-call-greece-idUKTRE81D1MD20120214

BRUSSELS | Tue Feb 14, 2012 7:07pm GMT

(Reuters) - Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker has invited euro zone ministers to a conference call on Wednesday, February 15, to discuss a second Greek programme, he said on Tuesday, changing a previous plan to hold a meeting with the ministers in Brussels.

Juncker said the format for the conference had been changed because he was still waiting to receive assurances from Greek political leaders over the implementation of a reform programme, and other technical work remained to be done.

"It has appeared that further technical work between Greece and the troika is needed in a number of areas, including the closure of the fiscal gap of 325 million euros in 2012 and the debt sustainability analysis," Juncker said in a statement that followed a preparatory meeting for the event.

"Furthermore, I did not yet receive the required political assurances from the leaders of the Greek coalition parties on the implementation of the programme," he said.

"Against this background, I have decided to convene ministers to a conference call tomorrow in order to discuss the outstanding issues and prepare the ordinary meeting of the Eurogroup on Monday, 20th February 2012," he said in the statement.

(Reporting By John O'Donnell. Editing By Sebastian Moffett.)

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