VENTURE CAPITAL POST

The German parliament could approve a four-month extension to euro zone funding for Greece, on condition Athens presents a list of reforms as promised, a senior ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel was quoted as saying.

Euro zone finance ministers agreed in principle on Friday to extend Greece's financial rescue by four months, averting a potential cash crunch in March that could have forced the country out of the currency area.

Greece is expected to ask on Thursday for an extension to its "loan agreement" with the euro zone as it faces running out of cash within weeks, but it must overcome resistance from skeptical partners led by Germany.

Greece and its euro zone partners engaged in brinkmanship on Monday, with leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras insisting his country would not extend its reform-linked bailout and Germany saying it would get no more money without such a program.

The Obama administration is pushing euro zone leaders to compromise more with Greece's new government as fears grow that a protracted budget stand-off could damage the global economy, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

A majority of Germans favor Greece remaining in the euro zone despite its new leftist government in Athens rejecting austerity, a poll for newspaper Bild am Sonntag showed on Sunday.

Greece's leftist government on Sunday began its drive to persuade a sceptical Europe to accept a new debt agreement while it starts to roll back on austerity measures imposed under its existing bailout agreement.

New Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, striking a conciliatory note on debt talks after a turbulent start to office, has called the European Central Bank chief to assure him that Athens was seeking an agreement.

No clear majority has so far emerged among EU states for a free-trade agreement between the European Union and the United States and both sides need to explain the benefits of such a deal, the EU's health chief said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on Wednesday, a government spokesman said, ahead of a key ECB meeting at which the bank is poised to announce a scheme to print fresh money to buy state bonds.

Greek leftwing opposition leader Alexis Tsipras said the European Central Bank (ECB) could not exclude Greece if it decides to move to a full "quantitative easing" program to stimulate the euro zone's faltering economy.

Euro zone politicians are not obliged to rescue Greece as the country is no longer of systemic importance to the single currency bloc, a senior member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's party was quoted as saying.

European Union leaders endorsed a new investment programme intended to kick-start economic growth in the bloc at a summit in Brussels, which its chairman said would end late on Thursday, half a day earlier than planned.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande urged Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko on Sunday to press ahead with reforms to facilitate an economic recovery and access to foreign aid.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is backing loss-making Air Berlin in a dispute over whether its Abu Dhabi-based partner Etihad is exercising too much control, Focus magazine reported on Saturday.