ATHENS/BRUSSELS, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Greece extended its
offer to buy back debt until Tuesday, seeking more bids from
bondholders after falling short of a target to retire bonds
worth 30 billion euros at a cost of just 10 billion euros.

The buyback is designed to provide for about half of a
40-billion euro debt relief package for Athens agreed last month
by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – France’s Pierre Moscovici emerged as a candidate to become the new chairman of euro zone finance ministers on Tuesday, as policymakers scrambled to fill a power vacuum left by Jean-Claude Juncker’s planned year-end departure.

Juncker’s announcement that he would no longer preside over the Eurogroup, the influential monthly council of finance ministers, after year-end or early 2013 has given policymakers just four weeks to agree on a successor to head one of the most powerful committees in the EU.

BRUSSELS, Nov 30 (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers
will discuss on Monday the terms of the Greek debt buy-back
which will be announced on the same day and discuss a Cypriot
bailout, but no decision on Cyprus will be taken, a senior EU
official said on Friday.

The Greek buy-back is a key part of a debt reduction plan
agreed by international institutional lenders to cut Greek debt
to 124 percent of GDP in 2020 from close to 190 percent seen
next year to make the debt sustainable.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone central banks might roll over their Greek debt holdings to cut by 5.6 billion euros the amount governments will have to provide Athens by 2016, according to a document that emerged from this week’s euro zone finance minister’s meeting.

Such a move would cut the amount required to just 2 billion euros from 7.6 billion, the document showed, which should increase the likelihood that the Greek deal will be accepted by bailout-weary national euro zone parliaments.

BRUSSELS, Nov 28 (Reuters) – Euro zone central banks may
decide to roll over their holdings of Greek state debt to reduce
by 5.6 billion euros the amount governments will need to provide
Athens by 2016, according to a document seen by Reuters.

Such a move would cut the amount to 2 billion euros from 7.6
billion, the document, which emerged from this week’s euro zone
finance minister’s meeting, showed.

BRUSSELS, Nov 28 (Reuters) – Euro zone central banks may
decide to roll over their holdings of Greek debt to reduce by
5.6 billion euros the amount governments will need to provide
Athens by 2016, according to an document obtained by Reuters.

Such a move would cut the amount to 2 billion euros from 7.6
billion, the document, which emerged from this week’s euro zone
finance minister’s meeting, showed.

BRUSSELS, Nov 27 (Reuters) – The Greek government and
financial markets were cheered on Tuesday by an agreement
between euro zone finance ministers and the International
Monetary Fund to reduce Greece’s debt, paving the way for the
release of urgently needed aid loans.

The deal, clinched at the third attempt after weeks of
wrangling, removes the biggest risk of a sovereign default in
the euro zone for now, ensuring the near-bankrupt country will
stay afloat at least until after a 2013 German general election.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund clinched agreement on reducing Greece’s debt on Monday in a breakthrough to release urgently needed loans to keep the near-bankrupt economy afloat.

After 12 hours of talks at their third meeting in as many weeks, Greece’s international lenders agreed on a package of measures to reduce Greek debt by 40 billion euros, cutting it to 124 percent of gross domestic product by 2020.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund agreed on steps late on Monday to reduce Greece’s public debt and help the country regain market access next decade.

Below are the main elements of the agreement.

- Greece will reach a primary surplus target of 4.55 percent of gross domestic product only in 2016, rather than 2014, to give the economy a better chance to start growing again.

BRUSSELS, Nov 26 (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers and
the International Monetary Fund clinched agreement on a new debt
target for Greece on Monday in a breakthrough towards releasing
an urgently needed tranche of loans to the near-bankrupt
economy, officials said.

After nearly 10 hours of talks at their third meeting on the
issue in as many weeks, Greece’s international lenders agreed to
reduce Greek debt by 40 billion euros, cutting it to 124 percent
of gross domestic product by 2020, via a package of steps.