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The
officials said that if further talks were necessary after
Thursday's scheduled meeting of the Eurogroup of the 19 euro
zone finance ministers, then the ministers might meet again at
the weekend, but no such session had been called so far.
"The next and hopefully decisive step is the Eurogroup on
Thursday. Any further steps will be decided in light of the
outcome from the Eurogroup," a senior EU official said.
Senior euro zone officials last week began discussing
contingency plans for a possible Greek exit from the euro area
if Athens defaults on a 1.6 billion euro repayment due to the
International Monetary Fund on June 30.
Last-ditch negotiations with Athens on a cash-for-reforms deal
to unlock frozen aid collapsed on Sunday after Greece's leftist
government rejected any cuts to pensions and wages or increases
in tax on basic goods.
"There should be no illusions that an agreement will become
easier, or more advantageous over time or at the level of heads
of state and government," the EU official said.
(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski and Julien Ponthus; Writing by
Paul Taylor; editing by David Stamp)
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