22 Jun 2015

Greece debt crisis: EU leaders gather for emergency summit

Eurozone leaders will meet in Brussels today to discuss a deal which could prevent Greece from exiting the single currency.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras spent most of the weekend holed up in a marathon cabinet meeting setting out plans to try and prevent default.

Officials worked late into the night to produce a deal ahead of a summit that they hope can keep Greece in the currency bloc.

Greece has been kept afloat by two bailouts totaling 240 billion euros (£172bn), but the deal is set to expire at the end of June. The country must repay some of the loan by the end of June or risk crashing out of the single currency and possibly the EU.

German EU official Martin Selmayr said that the plans were a “good basis for progress”.