BERLIN — Europe’s leaders are gearing up for a high-stakes week of financial diplomacy that could determine Greece’s future — and the stability of the 17 countries that use the euro.
The first round of the talks began Monday when Germany’s foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, hosted his Greek counterpart, Dimitris Avramopoulos, ahead of a meeting in Berlin on Friday between their countries’ leaders, Chancellor Angela Merkel and new Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.
French President Francois Hollande visits Berlin on Thursday for discussions with Merkel and then will meet Samaras in Paris on Saturday. Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg prime minister who chairs the eurozone finance ministers’ meetings, is due in Athens on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Greece’s finance officials were working to hammer out $14.19 billion in spending cuts necessary for it to continue receiving the international funding that is protecting it from bankruptcy.
The eurozone is awaiting a report, expected next month, on Greece’s progress in implementing reforms and austerity measures demanded in exchange for two massive bailout packages. The report is being compiled by representatives of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Greece has been dependent on two multibillion-dollar international bailouts from other eurozone countries and the IMF since its debt crisis broke in 2010. But despite taking a series of harsh austerity measures that saw salaries and pensions slashed and repeated rounds of tax hikes, the results have not been what European and Greek officials hoped for.
