European markets rally amid hopes that Greece EU deal is imminent

European shares have climbed to a three-week high amid indications Greece is close to striking a bailout deal, aimed at preventing the country defaulting on its debts. EU leaders have welcomed Athens’ new budget proposals from Athens, which will raise billions of euros. European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has said he is “convinced” an agreement can be reached this week.

Every effort must be made so that when eurozone finance ministers meet on Wednesday, a solution is in sight.

France President Francois Hollande

Earlier, talks between Greece and the eurogroup of finance ministers on how to prevent the nation crashing out of the single currency ended without a bailout deal. The ministers will meet again on Wednesday and there is optimism that an agreement can be reached between Greece and EU creditors, with the French President Francois Hollande saying the EU was “moving towards a deal”. The UK FTSE index as well as France’s Cac 40 and Germany’s Dax both rose sharply and in New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average lifted in early trading.

I can’t give any guarantee that that will happen. There’s still a lot of work to be done.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel

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