No Deal: Greece Sticks to its Stance

EUROZONE-GREECE/MARKETS

Greece's government is sticking to its stance seeking the use of leftover funds in the country's bank bailout fund and the ability to issue more short-term debt to tide it over as part of a "bridge" deal, a government official said on Thursday.

The comments came after euro zone finance ministers failed to reach an agreement on the way forward at late-night talks on Wednesday and could not even agree a joint statement on the next steps.

The official also reiterated that Athens wanted the return of 1.9 billion euros of profits made by the European Central Bank and national central banks on Greek bonds.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will explain to other EU leaders at Thursday's summit that Greece refused to sign up to the joint statement from the Eurogroup meeting because it referred to the bailout and its continuation, the official said.