Greece rejects German bailout plan

Greece’s finance minister rejected a German plan for the euro zone to impose a budget overseer on to Athens in return for a new €130-billion bailout, saying it would improperly force his country to choose between “financial assistance” and “national dignity”.

Mr Venizelos’s comments came as talks in Athens shifted from the weeks-long negotiations over restructuring its privately held debt to the question of which public institutions will have to pay to fill a widening gap in Greece’s budget figures.

Euro zone leaders, led by Germany’s Angela Merkel, want Monday’s summit in Brussels to focus on agreeing a new treaty to enshrine fiscal discipline across the bloc. Finance ministry officials will resume talks on Greece later this week.