Eurozone ministers seek end to Greece bailout odyssey

LUXEMBOURG — Eurozone ministers will yesterday try to resolve their differences over the terms of Greece's departure from its massive bailout programme with splits over the degree of debt relief needed by cashstrapped Athens.

If successful the talks will mark an important milestone for Europe nine years after Greece stunned the world with out-of-control debts and set the scene for three bailouts and a near collapse of the euro single currency.

Finance ministers from the 19 countries that use the single currency are seeking to agree debt relief and a sizeable cash cushion for Greece that will reassure financial markets on the ability of Athens to stand on its own.

"Tomorrow we are expecting a decision for the adjustment of Greece's debt which will mark the end of an ... ordeal for Greece, and the end of austerity," Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said in Athens on Wednesday.

"We are very close to the moment when we we will reap the fruits of years of sacrifices and difficult efforts by the Greek people," he said.

Greece's 86-billion-euro programme was agreed in 2015 after six contentious months of negotiation and is set to end this summer, bringing the level of assistance received by Athens to 273 billion euros since 2010.

"If everything goes well we will have an exit of Greece from its program in August, this is very good news," a senior eurozone official said ahead of the talks in Luxembourg.

"A full exit package on Thursday is 70 to 80 percent likely," he added.

As ever in the Greek debt crisis, Germany is the most resistant to debt relief and has demanded that Athens be closely tracked on reform implementation after the programme ends this summer.

Opposite the hardliners, who also include the Netherlands and other northern eurozone countries, are France and the European Central Bank, which argue that reduced debt is crucial in order for Greece to gain the trust of the markets.