Eurogroup to request analysis of Greek loan request: Luxembourg

Shortly afterwards, the European Stability Mechanism, the emergency loan agency run by the ministers, published a letter its chairman had sent to the two institutions asking them to assess the Greek request.

Gramegna referred to the Eurogroup of ministers holding a conference call later on Wednesday. However, a spokesman for the Eurogroup later said there would not be such a call. A teleconference of euro zone finance ministry officials had approved the request by the ESM to the Commission and ECB.

In other remarks to parliament, Gramegna described the loan request lodged by Greece with the ESM earlier on Wednesday as "extremely vague" in its proposals of tax and pension reforms. He also said he was concerned by a suggestion in the letter that Athens wanted to discuss the sustainability of existing debts.

"That means that again in this demand we have another sentence, this time about the debt restructuring, that will not make it easy, although it is not formulated as a condition," he said.

"There was very little readiness in the Eurogroup to talk about this."

(Reporting by Michele Sinner; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)