Greece seeks to clear next bailout hurdle

The 19 finance ministers of the eurozone member nations are meeting in Brussels on Friday to formally approval a draft bailout deal passed by the Greek parliament overnight. It what could be seen as a positive sign that the deal will be positively received in Brussels, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble indicated he supported the deal as he arrived at the meeting.

"I'm actually pretty optimistic that we'll reach an agreement today," he said, admitting that while there were "certain differences" between Greece and its international creditors, he thought an agreement was possible.

Schäuble also said that one condition of approving the bailout was the approval of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

IMF on the fence

On Thursday, the IMF said it would only make a decision on providing further financing for Athens after steps are taken to make its debt burden more sustainable and only after Greece's European partners weigh in.

"The IMF... will make an assessment of its participation in providing any additional financing to Greece once the steps on the authorities' program and debt relief have been taken," IMF senior official Delia Velculescu said in a statement Thursday.

Jeroen Djisselbloem, the current chair of the eurozone finance group, said the Friday's finance minister meeting "won't be short" but added that "hopefully at the end of the evening we'll have a positive outcome."

Tough sell in Athens

Approval from the eurozone is the next step for Greece as the country seeks a third international bailout to bring it back from the brink of defaulting on previous international loans.

Overnight, Greek parliamentarians took part in a long and heated debate before finally approving the 85-billion-euro ($94.8 billion) bailout to keep the country financially afloat. The terms of the deal had been reached a few days prior between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Greece's foreign creditors.

During the all-night debate ahead of the vote, Tsipras urged lawmakers to make the "necessary choice" for the Greek nation, strongly warning against the option of a bridging loan, incidentally a German proposal, because it would hurl Greece back into a "crisis without end."

The latest bailout is the third for Athens in five years. Many critics believe additional bailout funds will only worsen the county's battered economy and unemployment problems.

Although the bailout passed the Greek parliament, Tsipras continues to lose the support of members within his own Syriza party. Only 118 of the 162 members of Tsipras' governing coalition (comprising Syriza and the small right-wing Independent Greeks) voted in favor of the bailout. Greek state television has reported Tripras would call a vote of confidence in his government this month, but this has not been confirmed.

mz/sgb (dpa, AFP, AP)