Greece deal unlikely before easter

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A deal on Greek reforms is unlikely to happen before Easter, according to officials, as three days of negotiations end without resolution.

"The government has to be tough to reach a workable compromise," Stelios Koulouglou, Syriza MEP, told the Guardian. "I am actually quite optimistic."

His comments arrived after three days of negotiating reform plans in Brussels, which ended today without any success.

European Council president Donald Tusk has said that it unlikely for them reach an agreement before the end of April, which will leave the country struggling to pay off a debt of €450 million, which is owed to the IMF on 9th April, without any further bailout funds.

One official told Reuters this week that the government could run out of money by 20th April, which others raised the possibility of a parallel currency as a temporary solution.

"At some point, when the government has no more euros to pay salaries or bills, it might start issuing IOUs - a paper saying that its holder would receive an x number of euros at a point in time in the future," a "senior euro zone official" told the news agency.

"Such IOUs would then quickly start trading in secondary circulation at a deep discount to the real euros and they would become a 'currency', whatever its name would be, that would exist in parallel to the euro."

Other measures could include a limit on capital outflow, similar to the limit placed upon cash machine withdrawals by the Cypriot government two years ago.