EU finance ministers didn’t agree to release 12 billion loan to Greece

Euro zone finance ministers early this morning withheld the release of a EUR 12 billion loan to Greece, saying they could not authorise the release of the money until the Greek parliament backed a swingeing new austerity plan.

As a seven-hour emergency meeting broke up shortly before 2am in Luxembourg, the ministers failed to agree to deliver the funding due to the ongoing political turmoil in Greece. The development upped the stakes in their talks with the authorities in Athens.

However the ministers have backed the development of a second international bailout for the country.