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The most critical meeting of the Eurogroup on Greece since the start of the crisis is scheduled for 4:00 pm today in Brussels. The 19 finance ministers of the euro zone member states will discuss at it the application of Athens for an extension of the bailout.

Euro Working Group’ preparatory session of the meeting yesterday brought some optimism about the likelihood of both parties reaching and signing a joint statement. According to sources in Brussels, it would state that Greece would be committed to implement the programme and to fulfil its obligations under it, whereas all changes and substitutions of measures and reforms would be possible only after talks with the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund.

The Greek media define the expected agreement as a "lion's contract" for the Greek government, which must now find a way to explain all this to its voters and to fulfil the measures "to mitigate the social consequences of the humanitarian crisis" which it had promised before the elections.

Indicative of the importance attached to an agreement with Greece is the fact that Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde will participate in today's meeting of the Eurogroup. In statements to the media, IMF spokesman Jeffrey Rice hinted that the programme could undergo changes, adding that, in the case of Greece, this was not yet possible because the necessary prerequisites were not yet available.

At the same time, the Greek government continues to insist that it will not step back from what it calls "red" lines in the negotiations. Government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis said that there was no change in the position of the cabinet with the words, "If we had made a turn of 180 degrees we would have signed (the agreement with the lenders) 10 days earlier."

Sakellaridis was clear that delaying the submission of the bills on the gradual payment of debts to the tax services and on the introduction of a moratorium on the confiscation of houses to parliament had nothing to do with the negotiations or with the likelihood of them being perceived as unilateral action on the part of Greece. "The main reason why they have not been submitted is that the commissions to approve them have not yet been formed," the government spokesman said, adding that the letter of the Minister of Finance to the Eurogroup does not contain "any request for an extension of the programme or for an evaluation of its implementation so far."

At the same time, German Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said that Greece and its lenders would come to an agreement but a summit of the European Union would probably take place next week for this purpose.

"We are working so that Greece stays in the euro zone. I think an agreement will still be possible in the next eight days, if necessary via a further meeting of government leaders," he said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio.