Withdrawal from the European Union

Deutsche Bank has circulated a chart describing the five necessary steps in order for Greece to avoid an exit from the Eurozone, the financial markets' "bogeyman" known as "Grexit".

-The first step is a short-term bailout extension, or "loan agreement" extension, as Athens prefers to call it.

By Xenia Kounalaki

Greece has made every effort to reach a mutually beneficial agreement with its euro zone partners but will not be pushed to implement its old bailout program, its government spokesman said on Friday.

"The Greek government has done all it should at every level in an effort to find a mutually beneficial solution," government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis told Mega TV.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble told ZDF that he would reject an extension of Greece's loan agreement, thus rejecting the Greek side's proposal even before it is submitted as a possible compromise solution.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble stated after the conclusion of the Ecofin meeting that Greece must decide whether it wants an extension of a bailout program or not.

"Greece does not seem to know what it wants", he underlined. "We have always said that implementation of any program should be supervised by three institutions, whatever they are called."

British Prime Minister David Cameron chaired a contingency meeting on a possible Greek exit from the eurozone with Finance Ministry and Bank of England officials on Monday, his spokesman said.

Speaking to reporters, the spokesman said on the risk of financial market contagion, ?It?s something we want to be vigilant about.?

[Reuters]

By Sarah White & Julien Toyer

MADRID - Greece will be able to reach agreement with its European partners and any turmoil poses little risk for Spain where the government is poised to raise its growth forecasts, Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said.

The probability of Greece leaving the eurozone has jumped from virtually nothing to at least 20 percent since Syriza's Jan. 25 election victory, the head of the German ZEW think tank told Reuters.

Recent elections in Greece, won by leftist SYRIZA party, have not changed the fact that the debt-wracked nation must respect its commitments, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said.

It is no secret that the top priority of the new Greek government will be to negotiate a reduction in the country?s debt ? as well as to broker softer terms on the austerity conditions forced by its creditors.