The leaders of Greece, Germany and France agreed June 11 to intensify efforts for a bailout deal after late night talks aimed at preventing Athens from going bankrupt ended without a breakthrough.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met with Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande on the sidelines of an EU-Latin American summit in Brussels in a bid to hammer out a reform plan after five months of stalemate.

Pressure mounted after Standard & Poor's (an Americanfinancial servicescompany) further cut its rating for Greek government bonds after the cash-strapped country delayed a debt payment to the International Monetary Fund last week.

Greece's creditors have refused to release the last 7.2 billion euros ($8.1 billion) remaining in its EU-IMF bailout, which is due to expire on June 30, unless Athens agrees to tougher reforms.

bbabo.Net