Crucial Eurogroup meeting on Greece Monday; Greek PM continues contacts

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras completed on Sunday evening another round of telephone conversations with European Union counterparts and officials in view of Monday afternoon's crucial Eurogroup meeting on a long-awaited solution to the Greek debt problem.

Non-confirmed reports said on Sunday night that Samaras has been holding talks, over the past few days, with International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde, in the search for common ground between the IMF and Berlin over the sustainability of the Greek debt.

The finance ministers held telephone talks on Saturday evening, while a Eurozone working group held consultations over the weekend, preparing the final stages of a solution.

Addressing reporters at the end of an EU Summit on the 2014-2020 European Union budget in Brussels on Friday, Samaras had stressed the efforts underway to secure disbursement of the next tranche of EU-IMF financial aid to Greece, saying that he had had a succession of talks with his European counterparts and EU officials and that talks would continue up until Monday's Eurogroup meeting on Greece's debt.

SOURCE: ATHENS NEWS AGENCY