When, as now appears likely, Greece financially separates from Europe it will at one level be no one’s fault, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. The Greek leaders will rightly explain that having imposed more austerity on themselves than any industrialised country has suffered since the Depression, they could not have done more without light at the end of tunnel in the form of a clear commitment to debt relief. European leaders will rightly explain that they adjusted their positions repeatedly to accommodate the Greeks.

The European Central Bank has sanctioned further support for the Greek banking system amid fears for its stability, ahead of Monday’s crucial EU leaders’ summit, the Irish Times reported. The ECB agreed at an emergency meeting on Friday to raise the cap on funding for the Greek banking sector, according to reports. The ECB move came as German chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief-of-staff said Berlin will work “until the last minute” to secure Greece’s future in the euro zone.

European leaders will try again in an emergency summit meeting on Monday to break the deadlock between Greece and its international creditors after a meeting of eurozone finance ministers ended on Thursday with no deal on Greece’s bailout, the International New York Times reported. Without additional aid, Greece faces the prospect of effectively going bankrupt by the end of June, when it owes a payment of 1.6 billion euros, or about $1.8 billion, to the International Monetary Fund, and when the European part of its bailout program ends.

In a related story, Reuters reported that the European Central Bank told a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Thursday that it was not sure if Greek banks, which have been suffering large daily deposit outflows, would be able to open on Monday, officials with knowledge of the talks said. The officials said that during the closed-door meeting of the ministers on Greece, the chairman of the meeting Jeroen Dijsselbloem asked European Central Bank Executive Board member Benoit Coeure if Greek banks would be able to open tomorrow. Coeure answered: "Tomorrow, yes. Monday, I don't know".

Greece's creditors should admit the flaws of earlier rescue loans, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. Without this, neither can the political poison between the parties be drained nor can a programme be designed that works. What this means is that even before negotiating terms, the creditors must make four concessions - not financial ones, but intellectual ones. The first is to admit that it was a mistake not to restructure Greece's sovereign debt in April 2010.

The central bank of Greece warned on Wednesday that failure to reach a deal in the country’s long-running debt crisis would result in a default on its bailout loans and economic turmoil, the International New York Times reported. The rare public statement by the Bank of Greece came on the eve of the latest meeting of European officials, aimed at quelling the escalating crisis.

For much of this year, Spanish leaders have watched the crisis in Greece with a degree of serenity. Bolstered by the country’s economic recovery and shielded by European Central Bank bond-buying, Spain had seemed impervious to contagion from the Greek turmoil, the Financial Times reported. But since Monday that sense of safety has been thrown into question as investors focus less on Spain’s recent economic performance and more on what it — and countries such as Italy, Portugal and Ireland — have in common with Greece.

As Greece lurches toward climb-down or collision with its creditors, an exhausted population is bracing for more economic pain—either way, The Wall Street Journal reported. Panagiotis Koupalidis, a 68-year-old retiree, is supporting his wife as well as their three grown children, who lost their jobs in Greece’s depression, on a pension of €700 ($790) a month. That is just over half what it was before the austerity measures imposed by creditors as the condition for bailout loans. Now Mr.

Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, vowed not to give in to demands made by his country’s international creditors, accusing them of “pillaging” Greece for the past five years and insisting it was now up to them to propose a new rescue plan to save Athens from bankruptcy, the Financial Times reported. Mr Tsipras’ remarks came less than 24 hours after the collapse of last-ditch talks aimed at reaching agreement on the release of €7.2bn in desperately needed rescue funds.

Talks aimed at reaching an 11th-hour deal between Greek ministers and their bailout creditors collapsed on Sunday evening after a new economic reform proposal submitted by Athens was deemed inadequate to continue negotiations, the Financial Times reported. The breakdown is the clearest sign yet that differences between the two sides may be too wide to breach, increasing the possibility that Athens will not secure the €7.2bn in bailout aid it needs to avoid defaulting on its debts — including a €1.5bn loan repayment due to the International Monetary Fund in just two weeks.