Greek bailout delayed

Eurozone finance ministers said Greece will receive the money from the new bailout, provided a bond swap that will cut the debt Greece owes its private creditors by more than €100 billion goes according to plan in the coming week.

The President of the Eurogroup Jean-Claude Juncker said Greece has taken all the legal action necessary to get the €130 billion bailout.

However he said that the bailout must await the debt swap with private bondholders on 8 March. EU leaders are meeting in Brussels again to discuss the debt crisis.

The eurozone chief, Junker welcomed the Troika's assessment on Greece. According to the Troika, a monitoring group composed by representatives of the European Union, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported that Greece has made sufficient progress in completing the agreed prior actions.

Junker said "All required legislation by the Parliament and the Ministerial Cabinet has been adopted, and a few pending implementing acts should be completed shortly."

He added that eurozone finance ministers noted with satisfaction that Greece undertook decisive and swift legislative action in the areas of fiscal consolidation, revenue administration, pension reform, financial sector regulation and supervision and growth-enhancing structural reforms.

"This will allow the Greek adjustment effort to regain momentum, which together with a rigorous implementation of the agreed policy package for the new programme constitutes the basis for putting the public finances and the economy of Greece back on a sustainable path," Junker said.

Junker explained that the Troika will finalise in the next few days the detailed assessment of the quality of the transposition of prior actions in Greek legislation.

Meanwhile, signs emerged that Germany was giving in to international pressure to boost the euro zone's bailout funds. The move would increase Europe's bailout fund to €750 billion from €500 billion.