Eurozone sets conditions for Greek bailout

BRUSSELS: Eurozone finance ministers on Thursday set three conditions for Greece to meet to receive a new bailout, including for its parliament to approve new austerity measures on Sunday.

"Despite the important progress achieved over the last days, we did not have yet all necessary elements on the table to take decisions today," Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker said after talks in Brussels.

Another meeting of the group of finance ministers will be held next Wednesday as long as the conditions are met, said Juncker, who is Luxembourg's prime minister.

The two other conditions are additional structural spending cuts of 325 million euros for 2012 and "strong political assurance" from coalition leaders that they will implement austerity measures, Juncker said.

Hours before the Brussels talks, Greek political leaders reached a deal on new austerity measures demanded by international lenders in return of a new bailout worth 130 billion euros ($171 billion).

But after seeing Greece drag its feet on reforms for the past two years, finance ministers set more conditions for Athens to get the funds.

"All these measures are important to ensure a smooth implementation of the progamme, also after the upcoming (Greek) general elections" in April, Juncker added.

"These three elements that I mentioned need to be in place before we can take decisions," he added. (AFP)