Greece caves in, Germany plays hardball

The Greek government on Thursday (19 February) submitted a request to extend the current bailout programme by six months, but Germany rejected the demand on the eve of a meeting of eurozone finance ministers (Eurogroup).

EU commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker i was on the phone over the last few days both with Greek PM Alexis Tsipras i and the head of the Eurogroup, Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem i, as well as other "actors" in order to get the Greeks to submit the request, Juncker's spokesman said Thursday.