Vincent Kessler/Reuters
Echoing Juncker, French President Hollande said, "Greece is in the euro zone and it must remain in the euro zone," in a joint news conference with Germany's Merkel. "I know of no scenario today involving a euro zone exit."
Hollande, who was speaking ahead of the crucial Eurogroup meeting, said Greece must meet its commitments but its euro zone partners must also take into account the election that brought to power anti-austerity parties.
Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said that one of the main issues with the bailout deal is a lack there of trust among European nations.
"This is about being able to trust each other and that we can reinforce the trust in the future of this European unification project of people in all European countries. That's the actual task and that's what we are working on with all our might," Schaeuble told reporters before the meeting.
REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
Asked by reporters if there would be a deal on Friday, Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis said, "I trust that we are going to have one. The Greek government has not just gone the extra mile but the extra 10 miles and now we are expecting our partners not to meet us half way but a fifth of the way."
(Reporting by Ingrid Melander, Caroline Copley, Michael Nienaber and Yann Le Guernigou; Editing by Mark John)