The leaders of the 16 countries which use the euro could meet immediately before Thursday's planned European Union summit to decide how they should respond to Greece's financial woes, dpa quoted a top official as saying. Eurozone states are deeply divided over how to help Greece restore its financial credibility in the eyes of money markets, but are desperate to reach a deal so that they do not undermine their own appearance of unity. "It's possible that there will be a gathering of the members of the eurogroup before the start of the (EU) summit," Dirk De Backer, the spokesman for the president of the EU's council of member states, Herman Van Rompuy, told the German Press Agency dpa on Tuesday. Thursday's summit is due to start at 5 pm (1600 GMT), but leaders are scheduled to arrive throughout the day, leaving ample time for an extra meeting. Greece wants EU leaders to promise their support so that financial markets will be willing to lend Athens money at less than the current 6-per-cent rate they are demanding. But Germany, in particular, resists that idea, maintaining that Greece's problems are its own fault and that the most important thing is to maintain the credibility of the euro's fiscal rules. Last week, EU diplomats warned that the row threatened to overshadow the forthcoming summit and to knock its planned agenda - a 10-year plan to revitalize the EU's economy - out of the headlines. On February 11, the Greek issue completely dominated an informal EU summit which had also been meant to discuss economic plans.
