Eurozone finance ministers are poised to offer their tentative backing for Greek bailout proposals, after Athens caved in to creditor demands for further austerity measures in return for the promise of limited debt relief.
The provisional support for a deal is likely to come ahead of a formal meeting of all 19 eurozone finance ministers on Saturday, which will consider the package of measures, and an emergency summit of EU leaders on Sunday.
The hope in Athens appeared to be that its capitulation to demands for €13bn (£9.36bn) of public spending cuts and reforms would bring a commitment from Brussels for a third bailout, the promise of debt relief, and crucially for an economy on its knees, a flood of cash into its banking system from the European Central Bank.
