By Jonathan Davies
Eurozone finance minister have agreed to give Greece a €7 billion (£5bn) loan to keep its finances going until the new bailout is completed.
The so-called "bridging" loan will use the EU's European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM) emergency fund. That would mean the UK contributing to Greece's loan, something the Chancellor George Osborne assured would not happen earlier this week.
In 2010, Prime Minister David Cameron reached an agreement with the EU that EFSM funds would not be used for eurozone bailouts.
But the new loan could allow Greek banks to open for the first time in almost three weeks. Separately, with a new bailout deal agreed, the European Central Bank (ECB) has increased emergency funding to Greek banks to €900 million for one week.
ECB President Mario Draghi said: "The ECB has acted... under the assumption that Greece will remain a member of the euro area... so the ECB continues to act on the assumption that Greece is and will... remain a member of the euro area."
He added: "We had a series of news: with the approval of the bridge financing package, with the votes - the various votes in various parliaments to begin with in the Greek parliament - which have now restored the conditions for a raise in ELA."
