Greece, European Central Bank | featured news

Over the course of five days, the Greek government -- led by the understated conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras -- overcame two high hurdles in a dash to qualify for the austerity program set out by the so-called troika, made up of the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission.

Greece is unlikely to be able to pay what it owes and further debt restructuring is likely to be necessary, three EU officials said on Tuesday, a cost that would have to fall on the European Central Bank and euro zone governments.

European Central Bank policymaker Athanasios Orphanides called for euro zone leaders to abandon plans to make private sector investors help reduce Greece's debts, but his push showed no sign of gaining any traction in Europe's capitals on Friday.

Greece’s finance minister has called on the EU to implement “fully and immediately” an agreement reached last month overhauling the eurozone’s rescue fund and extending Greece a €109 billion ($157 billion) bailout. The finance ministry says Evangelos Venizelos wrote to senior officials, including European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, EU economic commissioner Olli Rehn and eurozone finance ministers. Excerpts of the letter were released Sunday.

The European Central Bank said on Thursday it opposed forcing private creditors to take part in debt relief for Greece, pushing back against Germany, which has demanded a bond swap to lengthen Greek debt maturities.