Greek bonds soar to highest level since 2013 as PM Alexis Tsipras heads for mini EU summit

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has told journalists not to expect a solution to the Greek financial crisis at a Brussels summit being held on Thursday, 18 March 2015. Arriving for talks with other European heads of state, Merkel attempted to dampen expectations that a mini-summit scheduled for this evening would lead to a breakthrough on the Greek question.

The German Chancellor's comments appear to quash any Greek hopes that a political deal can be reached to end the crisis and suggests that Greece will have to go back to negotiations with eurozone finance ministers.

Greek government members told the Guardian newspaper that Athens was not surprised that Merkel had taken a tough line and suggested that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras wanted to push for a political solution amid a growing liquidity problem in the country.

"Liquidity has become a huge problem and if we don't resolve that how on Earth will we be able to proceed with anything else," one government source told the Guardian.

Yields on Greek government bonds soared to the highest level since 2013 as the summit got underway on Thursday afternoon. Yields on Greek 10-year bonds reached 12.2% - a significant jump from Wednesday's 11.2%.

The evening's mini-summit, requested by Tsipras, will include the leaders of Greece, Germany, France and key European institutions.

While Greece secured a short-term extension to its bailout programme in February 2015, Athens has yet to outline the precise economic reforms that it will introduce. The Greek government has to do this in order to secure the next tranche of funding from its creditors.