[JURIST] Nineteen eurozone creditors held a meeting in Latvia on Friday to demand the completion of the economic reform program agreed to by Greece necessary to avoiding a Grecian default or exit from the euro. An agreement [JURIST report] between Greece and the creditors in February set an end-of-April deadline for the production of a comprehensive agreed-upon list of reforms; compliance would allow Greece access to the remaining 7.2 billion euros in its bailout fund. However, with the initial deadline rapidly approaching and the failure of Greece to produce agreed-upon reforms, european officials are disenchanted with the delaying tactics expressed by the Greek government. The ministers are now in talks to declaring a new June deadline to allow for a wider time allotment for Greece to make its initial payments. The Greek financial minister seemed confident that a deal would be reached, as all sides agree that they are running out of time. Such a deal could occur on May 11th, the next meeting of the eurozone ministers, and the day before Greece owes a large payment to the International Monetary Fund.

The debt crisis [BBC timeline] in Greece began in 2009 with a down-grade of a credit rating, and in the following years, has led Greece to borrow hundreds of billions of euros. In January of this year, Greek voters went to the polls in an election [JURIST report] that saw the leftist party promise to renegotiate terms of the bailout that were seen by many Greek citizens as too harsh. Last month, Greece’s parliament passed an anti-poverty bill [JURIST report] that would provide free electricity and food-stamps to low-income households. While the bill was not approved by Greece’s international creditors, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras offered it his support as an action that will offer something to the people. Earlier this month, the European Central Bank (ECB) expressed concerns [official website, JURIST report] about Greece’s draft law that prohibits the government from foreclosing on primary residences where borrowers can prove total wealth requirements as ripe for unscrupulous debtors to engage in strategic defaults without repercussions.