What is the Eurogroup and What is This Week s Emergency Meeting All About?

What Is the Eurogroup?

The Eurogroup is a meeting of the finance ministers of the member states of theeurozonethat exercises political control over the euro currency. Dutch Finance MinisterJeroenDijsselbloemis the current president.

Eurogroup News Updates

Dramatic fluctuations of European markets resulting from the standoff between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Eurozoneand European Officialshave raised tensions internationally about the fate of the Eurozone should Greece be forced to leave or default, and what this means for European financial stability and its capacity to function effectively as an international trade partner.

Meetings between Tsipras, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, and European Officials and Eurozone nations, as well as parliamentary meetings, EU meetings and Eurogroup meetings,are being watched closely by all. The results of these meetings, namely these political bodies' ability to arrive at a compromise with Greece, will determine the fate of the Eurozone and Europe's financial stability.

Chief among these bodies is the emergencyEurogroup meeting occurringWednesday,set to take place before an EU Leader's Summit on Thursday, in an effort to strike a deal between Greece and other Eurozone nations before Greece's EU-IMF bailout program is set to expire on 28 February.

According to Greek newspaper Ekathimerini, the Greek government is preparing a compromise involving Varoufakis' proposed "bridge program" involving bridge loans that will keep Athens afloat until Greece can seek a "new deal" with creditors in September. Varoufakis is now called upon to answer a question he posed 22 years ago, namely how to manage economic decline without incurring political cost.

Greece's attitude going into this meeting appears to be much more conciliatory than in previous negotiations:

What Could This Meeting Accomplish?

An EU statement described the meeting as follows: "The ministers will exchange views on the way forward following the appointment of the new Greek government and considering that ... financial assistance to Greece expires at the end of February 2015."​

In front of his colleagues on Wednesday, Varoufakis will have his first opportunity to lay out Greece's demands for debt reduction, in hopes of calming skepticism with concrete plans.

Skepticism among Eurozone nations is running high, however. Just last week, after an initial meeting with the new Greek government, Dijsselbloem warned Greece against reversing established deals.

After Wednesday, another previously scheduledEurogroupmeeting will occur on 16 February, whichDijsselbloemhas marked as Greece's last chance to apply for a bailout extension.