Euro zone finance ministers hope to agree this evening on a way of providing heavily indebted Greece with financial aid, despite French and German doubts that a deal will be reached.
European policymakers are discussing how to help Greece and protect the 16-country currency zone but so far have not backed promises of political support with financial aid. Germany, Europe's biggest economy, has resisted bail-out pledges.
European Union leaders have welcomed austerity measures announced by the Greek government and a poll on Sunday showed most Greeks saw them as a step in the right direction, despite the street protests they have provoked.
A senior EU source said at the weekend that among the means being considered to help Greece were bilateral loans and loan guarantees.
French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said she did not expect any figure for aid to be announced at today's monthly meeting of the Eurogroup finance ministers in Brussels.
'I'm certainly not expecting any decision being made, or any button being pressed, or any button being selected to be pressed, because it's totally premature,' she said.
Despite this, she said Greece had 'delivered enormously' with its austerity steps which include promised spending cuts equal to 2% of gross domestic product.
Under EU rules, neither the bloc as a whole nor individual member states can assume the debts of other countries.
Greece hopes to reduce its budget deficit this year to 8.7% of GDP from 12.7% in 2009, a plan that has led to protests and strikes.
