EU finance ministers gather to take stock of financial crisis, Greek austerity proposals

LUXEMBOURG – EU finance ministers are in Luxembourg to take stock of the debt crisis before a summit of EU leaders later this month.

The 17 eurozone ministers will look Monday at Greece's budget proposals. They will hear from the troika — the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — about its negotiations with the Greek government. No final troika report will be submitted, so no decision on a new payout of aid will be made.

Finance ministers from all 27 EU countries meet Tuesday and are expected to grant Portugal an extra year, until 2014, to correct its excessive budget deficit. They will also see how many countries want to institute a financial transaction tax among just themselves, rather than all EU countries.