BRUSSELS — Eurozone finance ministers were gathering in an emergency session here on Wednesday, under pressure to hammer out a stopgap plan to keep Greece from running out of money as it tries to revise or even scrap the terms of its international bailout agreement.
The session of the Eurogroup — a committee of finance ministers from the 19 countries using the euro — could be a stormy one, as the newly elected, leftist-led Greek government presses for relief from tough austerity measures. Those restrictions were a condition of Greece’s being granted a total of 240 billion euros, or about $272 billion, in loans from its European neighbors and the International Monetary Fund since 2010. Greece still needs to receive its next loan installment, €7.2 billion, or otherwise bridge the financial gap, to keep from defaulting on its international debt payments in coming months. But the new government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has vowed to no longer abide by the terms of the bailout program, which he and many other Greeks blame for the country’s economic woes and high unemployment.
A central player in the meeting that was expected to run well into the evening on Wednesday is Yanis Varoufakis, the combative new Greek finance minister who has described the bailout program as an economic disaster for his country. Mr. Varoufakis is expected to present plans for a short-term financial bridging arrangement — one that would relax at least some of the austerity provisos.
That defiant stance won the backing of Greek lawmakers who passed a vote of confidence in the new governing coalition on Tuesday night in Athens.
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Analysts say both sides need to be willing to compromise.
“The solution for Greece is a matter of political willingness,” said Guntram Wolff, the director of Bruegel, a research organization in Brussels. “The first step is for the Greeks to stop their unilateral declarations to increase spending without being able to afford it,” Mr. Wolff said, and “then European creditors should somewhat delay debt repayments and offer them more of a financial cushion.”
Niki Kitsantonis and Liz Alderman contributed reporting from Athens.
Niki Kitsantonis contributed reporting from Athens.
