Europe News

Greece, euro zone no closer to bailout deal after tough talks

Greece appeared no closer to a reforms-for-aid deal after the country's finance minister met with his euro zone counterparts on Friday.

After the talks, which took place in Latvia's capital city of Riga, the president of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers issued a stark warning to Athens.

"A comprehensive and detailed list of reforms is needed," Jeroen Dijsselbloem, told reporters, according to Reuters.

"A comprehensive deal is necessary before any disbursement can take place... We are all aware that time is running out."

A European Union and a Greek national flag flutter in front of the Parthenon temple in Athens February 11, 2015.
Alkis Konstantinidis | Reuters

According to Reuters, the discussion with Greece lasted little more than an hour, and Dijsselbloem warned that a remaining 7.2 billion euros in frozen funds would unavailable after June.

Read MoreGreece facing 'Lehman moment' as debt costs soar

After the meeting, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis stated that Athens was willing to make compromises to reach a deal.

Varoufakis added that "the cost of not having a solution would be huge for all of us, Greece and the euro zone," according to Reuters.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis
Charles Platiau | Reuters

Finding a compromise between Greece and the bodies which have overseen its two bailouts—the International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Central Bank and European Commission—over required reforms is proving difficult, despite numerous meetings on the issue.

Ahead of Friday's meeting, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said he did not believe there would be decisive progress on Greece in Riga, while his Austrian counterpart said he was "quite annoyed" with the lack of progress, Reuters reported.

Read MoreGreek crisis talks as Tsipras, Merkel meet

Lenders want Greece to implement far-reaching pension and labor market reforms, as well as implement privatization programs and more cost-cutting measures. However, Greece's leftwing government, which was elected in January in large part because of its opposition to austerity measures, is strongly resistant to doing so.

Varoufakis said in in a regular blog post on Thursday that Greece's partners needed to let go of an approach focused on austerity that had "failed."

"Our task is to convince our partners that our undertakings are strategic, rather than tactical, and that our logic is sound. Their task is to let go of an approach that has failed," he wrote.

Read MoreGreece's tough repayment schedule