Greece to get four extra months under current bailout

In those preliminary discussions, several sources told this website, Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis was sidelined, as prime minister Alexis Tsipras spoke on the phone to conclude the deal personally.

Under the accord, Greece has to come up with a precise list of reforms for the next four months, which will be evaluated by experts from the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund, Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem said after the meeting.

The result of this first review will be communicated also by phone and if it is positive, national parliaments will approve the 4-month extension of the €240 billion bailout which otherwise would have terminated on 28 February.

During these four months, Greece is due to start talks with international creditors on a third bailout, with "clarity expected" on the issue before the extension runs out.

In order to achieve the deal, Tsipras yielded to all German demands - including that a €10.8 billion tranche be repatriated to the EU bailout fund in Luxembourg and only used if banks in Greece request it for recapitalising of their balance sheets.

The money's availability will however be extended for another four months, along with the overall bailout programme.

Greece also pledged not to undertake any unilateral measures or reforms that would compromise the budgetary calculations Athens needs to stick to in order to get the bailout money.

But in a press conference after the meeting, Varoufakis said the plan to raise the minimum wage - announced by his prime minister - is not off the table "after June", giving Ireland as an example of a country which managed to negotiate this with its creditors.

Varoufakis also responded to criticism from the Baltic states and Slovakia, where the minimum wage is currently lower than in Greece, saying that prices are higher in his country and that they were kept high by market-dominant oligopolies, despite revenues going down.

He said the fact that the €10.8 billion remains available for Greek banks - which have seen massive capital flight in the past few weeks - should "put an end to the fear and the scaremongering".

EUobserver understands that at one point, ECB chief Mario Draghi told Tsipras that capital controls will be imposed in the absence of a deal.

According to ECB sources, this danger has now been averted.

"After the decision of the Eurogroup, there is no need for capital controls. Capital controls are out of question," an ECB source said.

The only mild concession Greece has obtained so far is for its budget surplus target for 2015 to be possibly lowered by taking into consideration that the economic situation this year was worse than expected.

But EU economics commissioner Pierre Moscovici said this assessment will be made "in line with EU rules", at the end of the year, rather than be considered on Monday when Greece has to submit the reforms list.

German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in 2015 "there may be a little less surplus", but overall, Greece has to stick to the "debt sustainability assessment" which foresees how much budgetary surplus Greece has to adhere.

Schaeuble said the agreement was a "positive step" after three "difficult Eurogroup meetings."

"What is crucial is that Greece is sticking to completing the conditions under current programme and that money will be disbursed only after the successful review of the measures," he said.