FINANCE MINISTERS FROM across the eurozone are in Brussels today to discuss whether to release the next tranche of rescue funds to embattled Greece.

A last-minute agreement between the Troika and Athens needs to be reached before the €6.3 billion is granted. Over the past month, officials have been assessing progess in the Greek bailout programme but there are still steps to be undertaken before the Troika is satisfied.

It is understood that Greece’s Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras will leave for Belgium this afternoon with representatives from the IMF, the European Union and the European Central Bank and that talks will continue on the plane.

As part of the deal, Greece will be expected to cut a further 4,000 public sector jobs, while redeploying 25,000 others. Those changes will need to be put into law at parliament tomorrow, once an agreement is finalised.

Since 2010, a total of €240 billion has been pumped into Greece.

Meanwhile, back in Brussels, there will be considerable interest in the Portuguese delegate Maria Luís Albuquerque as it his her first time attending as Portugal’s finance minister. She was appointed to much controversy – and almost to the detriment of the entire political system – last week by Prime Minister Passos Coelho.

-Additional reporting by AFP

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