Greek Bailout Talks End Without Agreement

Highly anticipated talks between Greek and euro-zone officials ended on Wednesday without reaching an agreement over Greece’s debt crisis.

After a seven-hour meeting, euro-zone Finance Ministers’ group chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem said they had made progress in Brussels, “but not enough progress yet at this point to come to joint conclusions.”

Both sides were optimistic for a future deal but failed to agree on a joint statement that would lay out the next steps forward, reports the BBC.

They have scheduled further talks for Monday.

Greece’s new government, led by the leftist Syriza party, wants to end the existing bailout program put in place by the European Union after the global financial crisis.

The government says austerity measures are too severe and wants to scale back repayments by 30%. But Greece’s creditors in the E.U. say the country must abide by the terms of the existing rescue loan.

[BBC]