Eurozone ministers gather in Brussels for crunch Greek debt talks

German magazine Der Spiegel is reporting that officials at the European Central Bank “are preparing for a Greek exit” from the euro area as Eurozone ministers gather in Brussels for make-or-break talks with Greece.

According to Spiegel, the ECB staff were drawing up contingency plans for how the rest of the eurozone could stay together in the event of a Greek exit.

On Thursday, while senior officials were working behind the scenes in preparation for the eurogroup meeting, Maltese Finance Minister Edward Scicluna told MaltaToday that today’s talks will be “difficult”.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told Reuters he was “certain” his government’s request for a six-month loan extension would be accepted despite Berlin’s objections and called for a “historic political decision” to seal a deal.

“Greece has done everything possible so that we can arrive at a mutually beneficial solution, based on the principle of double respect: respect both to the principle of EU rules and to the electoral result of member-states,” Tsipras said in a written statement to Reuters.

“I feel certain that the Greek letter for a six-month extension of the loan agreement with the conditionalities that accompany it will be accepted. This is the moment for a historic political decision for the future of Europe.”

This week Germany rejected the Greek letter as insufficient, but it now appears that the EU’s paymaster has “softened its tone”. A spokeswoman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Reuters that the latest Greek request for an extension of its loan agreement with Europe was a good signal and provided a basis for further talks, but was not sufficient in its current form.

The spokeswoman added that the eurozone finance ministers’ talks would "hopefully lead to an agreement with Greece."

The make-or-break talks come on a crucial day for Greece to secure funding and avoid bankruptcy after its €240 billion bailout programme expires on 28 February.

Scicluna also revealed that Malta, Italy and France had taken upon them the role to try and bridge Greece with the hardliners. “Unfortunately for Greece, they do not know how the rules and the Eurogroup work. They are completely new and that’s a drawback for them,” Scicluna said.

The ball is currently in Greece’s court and it is up to them to determine whether they want to apply or not the conditions of the programme.

The Greek request includes a pledge to maintain “fiscal balance” for a six-month period while it negotiates with Eurozone partners over long-term growth and debt reduction.

The Greeks said they want enough time, without the threat of “blackmail and time deficits”, to draw up a new agreement with Europe for growth over the next four years.

“I think they’ve now reached a point where they will tell Greece ‘if you really want to leave, leave’,” Edward Scicluna told MaltaToday on Thursday. “And I think they mean it because Germany, the Netherlands and others will be hard and they will insist that Greece repays back the solidarity shown by the member states by respecting the conditions.”