Member states of the European Union

Good practices in the implementation of electronic government services will be presented at an expert workshop in Sofia organized by the embassies of the four countries of the Visegrad Group in Sofia on 26 February.

VIENNA - Austrian Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling took a hard line with Greece before debt talks with eurozone peers on Monday, saying Athens could not simply expect to get six months more time to work out a new rescue plan.

By Paul Taylor

In the tug-of-war over Greece's debt crisis, geopolitics and domestic politics are pulling in opposite directions.

Greece's strategic location and ties to Russia give its new leftist-led government some leverage in its struggle to make European Union creditors ease up on austerity and give Athens more time to repay its mountain of debt, if it ever does.

The development of plans for the construction of a Vertical Corridor connecting the gas grids of Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania has reached an advanced stage, according to Romanian authorities.

The risk of Greece's turmoil spreading to the rest of the euro zone is low, a senior official at ratings agency Standard and Poor's said in a German newspaper interview on Wednesday.

Greece could turn to "another source" for funding in the event that a deal is not reached with its eurozone partners and Berlin in particular, Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said on Monday night, adding that the government - in which his party is the junior partner - has an "obligation to go to Plan B."

Germany?s Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel on Monday brushed off calls by Greece?s newly elected government for Berlin to pay reparations for damage inflicted during the country?s Nazi occupation, claiming that the matter was settled following German reunification in 1990.

The EU's initiative that allows European citizens to gather a million citizens to ask for a change in EU legislation inspired the creation of an online signature-gathering campaign titled, "People of the World: Say 'Yes' to Greek debt cut".

According to Wall Street Journal report, Greece is in danger of running out of cash in weeks.

As WSJ indicates, if Eurozone officials didn’t make the above decision then Greece would have been able to take a breather for about 4-6 months, which is enough according to the Greek Government to conclude negotiations.

We advised Greece to cooperate with the Eurozone and the International Monetary Fund

“We advised Greece to do so and we are optimistic that through talks  a collaboration will be finally achieved ” said White House official.