BRUSSELS (AP) — The eurozone's 19 finance ministers will be looking to defuse the risk of another Greek crisis as they try to agree Monday on what reforms Greece must still take to qualify for more loans.
Hopes of an imminent breakthrough that will unlock further bailout funds for the cash-strapped country were dashed in recent weeks due to disagreements between Greece and its creditors.
Greece remains dependent on bailout loans from its partners in the eurozone to pay its debts. It has a payment hump in July, and without new loans, faces bankruptcy and a potential exit from the euro — as it has at various moments over the past seven years.
Ahead of the meeting in the Belgian capital, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the eurozone's top official, sought to downplay fears that the single currency bloc was heading for another Greek debt crisis. The country's liquidity issues "are not substantial" at the moment and as a result there is "no acute need for money" just now, he said.
However, Dijsselbloem, who is also the Dutch finance minister, said it would be useful if an agreement is reached "quite quickly simply for stability reasons and confidence reasons."
On a variety of economic metrics, including growth and the budget, Greece is performing relatively well.
"Anyone who wants to talk about crisis can talk to someone else because the Greek economy is gradually recovering and what we need to do is strengthen that and to give that more of an opportunity," Dijsselbloem said.
The hope is that Monday's meeting will lead to representatives from the institutions overseeing Greece's bailout returning to Athens. Once there, discussions will commence on the exact nature of the reforms Greece will have to undertake in order to get its hands on more bailout money.
"We've had intense talks with the institutions and the Greek government to clear the ground for the mission to return to Athens and in the eurogroup we will discuss whether we've come to that point," he said, using the formal name of the meeting of eurozone finance ministers.
"Because that is my goal: to get the mission back in Athens on the ground to talk about all the difficult stuff that needs to be sorted out."
As part of its most recent bailout agreement struck in 2015, Greece committed to more economic reforms in return for loans. There are a number of reforms still to be carried out, including to pensions, tax and the labor market.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who has taken a tough stance with Greece ever since the first bailout of May 2010, sounded positive that an agreement for inspectors to return to Athens will be reached.
"We're headed in the right direction, the eurozone have growth, all the eurozone members have growth," he said. "And with Greece it looks like we will come to a good outcome. We are headed in the right direction in a difficult environment."
Agreeing on the next set of reforms will unlock the next batch of funds and potentially trigger the involvement of the International Monetary Fund in the Greek bailout program.
The IMF was meant contribute to the latest bailout program but has held off, saying that Greece's debt is unsustainable and as a result it is urging the eurozone to write off some of its earlier loans to Greece. The IMF has also argued that the austerity policies demanded in Greece's third bailout program are too onerous.
The Europeans have ruled out an outright debt reduction but are open to other kinds of debt relief measures, such as extending Greece's repayment periods or capping the interest rates at relatively low levels. As a result, the IMF's position in the Greek bailout program is uncertain.
"The position of the IMF remains unchanged under the principle that they formally want to join this program, while informally, they continued to be involved," Dijsselbloem said.
"It is still their intention but their condition is that there are enough substantive reforms — not necessarily cuts, but reforms — so that things improve in Greece."
Germany's Schaeuble was even more positive about the prospect of IMF involvement.
"I think it's very much a theoretical discussion," he said. "The IMF will take part."