The Guardian reports that the EU is close to accepting new write-downs on public sector loans to Greece, as IMF chief Christine Lagarde calls for further sacrifice from taxpayers.

EU officials are preparing to concede that eurozone taxpayers may need to accept larger losses on their loans to Greece or risk a run of sovereign collapses across Europe, says the paper.

Lagarde said that an IMF assessment shows Greece to be in a worse situation than previously thought and Athens is under pressure from Brussels over the terms of a second bailout due in March and worth €130bn.

The Irish Times says that EU council president Herman Van Rompuy has said that he will not convene a separate summit of eurozone leaders at the European council on Monday unless there is progress in Athens.