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EU Moves Closer to Greece Bailout Deal http://www.wsj.com/articles/eu-dijsselbloem-getting-closer-to-greece-bailout-deal-1461786229

By WILLIAM HOROBIN
April 27, 2016 3:43 p.m. ET
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PARIS—Eurozone finance ministers will convene next week or at the latest the week after to try to complete a bailout deal with the Greek government, Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said Wednesday.

After a tentative meeting for Thursday was called off when talks ran into difficulties, European Council President Donald Tusk said earlier Wednesday that eurozone finance ministers should hold a meeting on Greece in the coming days to avoid prolonged uncertainty.

Mr. Dijsselbloem, who presides over the meetings, said creditors need a little more time to work with Athens on the legal possibilities for a contingency mechanism that would trigger further austerity if Greece misses targets.

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“I know there is a sense of urgency that we all share. We’ll have to see whether it can be next week, or ultimately the week after,” Mr. Dijsselbloem said when asked at a news conference in Paris about when the eurozone finance minister meeting would take place.

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The additional time would also give officials the opportunity to discuss what is possible to deal with Greece’s debt burden, he added.

Speaking alongside the Dutch finance minister, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said the talks need to conclude quickly to avoid the dramatic brinkmanship of negotiations in July when Greece came close to exiting the euro.

“We shouldn’t lose too much time because that would create worries,” Mr. Sapin said. “But we should do it at a speed that allows us to succeed.”

—Viktoria Dendrinou contributed to this article.

Write to William Horobin at