Eurozone finance ministers are meeting in Slovakia today amid concern that Greece is not doing enough to satisfy the conditions of its most recent bailout.
The Eurogroup must decide whether Greece has done enough to "meet the milestones agreed in its financial assistance programme", according to the agenda on the European Council website – and some sources say the answer will be "no".
If the ministers do decide enough progress has been made, they will release more of the second tranche of aid, part of the third such package of assistance that Greece has received. The third bailout, agreed last summer, is worth a total of €86bn (£73bn). The second tranche totals €10.3bn, though Greece has already been given €7.5bn of that.
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Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras committed last year to a raft of reforms in order to receive the funding. But, warns CNBC, he has so far only completed two of the 15 agreed reform 'milestones'.
The decision today "is not necessarily going to be straightforward", given that so few of the reforms have been implemented, says The Guardian, while the Greek Reporter asked earlier this week if Greece was "headed to another bailout stand-off".
German daily Handelsblatt reported that a source in Brussels said Greece was unlikely to receive any further payments on Friday, or after the next Eurogroup meeting on 21 September.
The newspaper added that it is even "possible" that Greece will receive no further payments this year. The €7.5bn given in June could end up being the only part of the third bailout Greece receives – unless more reforms are pushed through.
Tsipras told Le Monde yesterday that his unpopular reforms are working, saying he expected the economy to return to growth this year, but he insisted that a sustainable recovery could only happen with debt relief.
The Eurogroup meeting starts at 9am UK time. A statement will be made later today on its outcome.
