French finance minister sees overall deal on Greece in June

France is confident that Greece and its international lenders can reach a deal on additional measures of debt relief for Athens in June, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Monday at the end of a euro zone meeting on the issue, which concluded with no agreement.

"I am quite confident we can reach an overall agreement on the Greek debt at the next Eurogroup meeting in three weeks," Le Maire told reporters after the meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Brussels, the first since his appointment as finance minister.

Greece needs new cash from the euro zone to avoid a default in July when it has to repay some 7.3 billion euros worth of maturing loans. To get the money, the Greek parliament approved pension cuts and tax hikes last Thursday. However, euro zone countries' ministers concluded that Athens still had to take some further measures. The next meeting of the so-called Eurogroup is scheduled for June 15 in Luxembourg.

Despite the meeting ended fruitless on disbursing new loans to Greece, Le Maire underlined that the Mediterranean country will receive the needed financial aid, noting there was no reason for concern.

He said that France is working for an overall deal that will keep the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on board, and insisted Germany played a constructive role during the talks and made steps towards a final compromise.

(Reuters, AFP)