France backs Greece over home repossessions in aid talks

French Finance Minister Michel Sapin backed Athens against creditors who are demanding that Greece make home repossessions easier in negotiations on aid payments that should have been paid in October.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in the Greek parliament Reuters/Alkis Konstantinidis

Agreement at a monthly finance ministers meeting on Monday was "perfectly possible", Sapin said at a press conference in Paris in the morning.

He found is "strange" to demand that Greece make it easier to evict home owners than it is in the creditor countries, he said.

"I understand the Greek government's concerns on this subject," the minister added, pointing out that France, Greece and several other eurozone countries have protection against home repossession for indebted families.

Sapin hailed the "considerable efforts" made by Athens and its "scrupulous respect" of the 13 July agreement that kept Greece in the euro.

EU sources indicated that agreement had yet to be reached on Monday morning for the payment of two billion euros of aid, which should have been paid last month.

A further sum of one billion euros is to be paid before the end of the year.