Euro zone finance ministers will be set to take "all the necessary decisions" on Greece Monday after Athens met conditions for a bailout, the Eurogroup chief said tonight.
"I am confident that the Eurogroup will be able to take all the necessary decisions on Monday," Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the group of euro zone finance ministers, said.
Juncker said after a conference call between the 17 finance ministers that "substantial further progress" had been made since yesterday, when euro zone partners were still waiting for Athens to fulfill the conditions.
Greek political leaders were told to deliver a letter pledging to implement budget cuts and economic reforms even after April elections and find another €325m in cuts.
The ministers were also waiting for a report from the troika of EU, IMF and European Central Bank auditors on the sustainability of Greece's debt under the €230 billion rescue package.
"First, we received the strong assurances provided by the leaders of the two coalition parties in Greece's government," Juncker said.
"Second, the troika finalised and presented its analysis on the sustainability of Greece's public debt,'' he added.
''Third, further technical work between Greece and the troika has led to the identification of the required additional consolidation measures of €325m and the establishment of a detailed list of prior actions together with a timeline for their implementation,' he stated.
But with trust in Greece wearing thin among euro zone nations, Juncker indicated that Athens would face stricter monitoring in the future.
"Further considerations are necessary regarding the specific mechanisms to strengthen the surveillance of programme implementation and to ensure that priority is given to debt servicing," he said.
"This will strengthen debt sustainability further." France and Germany have proposed the creation of a special escrow account that would be used to ensure Greece services the debt it owes to eurozone governments.
The ministers had been meant to meet face-to-face in Brussels to green-light the bailout, but Juncker decided to switch it to a conference call after Athens had failed to fulfill the conditions.
Greek leader commits to new austerity plan
The Greek conservative New Democracy party says its leader Antonis Samaras has sent a letter to the EU and IMF committing himself to implementing a new austerity package.
The Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers had demanded this undertaking as a condition for a €130 billion bail-out for Greece.
In his letter, Samaras gave undertakings to stick by Greece's original 2010 bail-out and the latest rescue. He said the party wold remain committed to the measures if it won the election later this year.
Earlier, Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told reporters in Athens that some in the single currency zone were "playing with fire".
He claimed that several euro zone countries no longer wanted Greece to be part of the single currency. Venizelos said Greece had to convince some euro zone countries that it could stay in the euro zone.
