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The extraordinary meeting of the Eurogroup was postponed by an hour and a half shortly before its beginning. President of the council of the euro zone finance ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem informed about the change via Twitter.

According to sources, the delay is due to a meeting involving Greek Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis, Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde, German Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schaeuble, Jeroen Dijsselbloem and probably Commissioner for Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici.

At the same time, the online edition of the German newspaper Der Spiegel reported that the European Central Bank (ECB) was preparing for Greece's exit from the euro zone. A little later, the same media announced that according to the IMF, the euro zone could withstand such a shock.

ECB officials declined to comment on the publication of Der Spiegel, which in addition states that the Bank is putting pressure on Athens to impose restrictions on capital flows in Greece.

According to Malta’s Minister of Finance Edward Scicluna, the euro zone bloc led by Germany wants Greece to exit it. A little later, his Austrian counterpart Hans Georg Schelling said during his speech to the budget monitoring commission at the Austrian parliament that the issue of Greece exiting the euro zone had not been raised. He added that the signing of an agreement on the bailout extension would require rapid actions as the parliaments of four member states must approve Greece’s request for financial aid within specific deadlines.

Meanwhile, in a statement to Reuters, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said, "Greece has done everything possible so that we can arrive at a mutually beneficial solution, based on the principle of double respect."

Earlier, a senior European representative had expressed doubts about the likelihood of reaching an agreement at today's meeting.

After the meeting in Paris, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande expressed hope that the negotiations would develop positively. Commenting on the publication of Der Spiegel, Angela Merkel stressed, "I am not aware of a scenario that involves Greece’s exit from the euro zone."