No decision on Greek aid at euro fin-min meeting

The euro zone’s top money men have been meeting in Luxembourg with no hope of releasing a vital block of financial aid for Greece.

The gathering of finance ministers from the 17 countries that use the euro was set against an announcement that Greece had failed to hit key economic targets that were preconditions for the bailout that saved it from bankruptcy.

The Athens government blamed the forecasts saying its economy had contracted worse than had been predicted. Lenders said Greece has failed to push through structural reforms.

Now the country is perilously close to collapse again, and without a new 8-billion euro cash injection Greece could run out of money for state employees’ wages in a few weeks.

euronews correspondent in Luxembourg, Margherita Sforza, said: “According to a spokesman for the European Economic Affairs Commissioner it’s possible that the Eurogroup ministers will meet again on October 13th , but the date will be confirmed only when the troika (the EU, the IMF and ECB) come back from Athens. But even if financial default is not declared, the demonstrations in Greece show that social bankruptcy is already a de facto reality.”

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