Factbox: Euro zone has tight timeline for deal to save Greece

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone countries have set a tight timeline for any deal to save Greece from economic collapse that could catapult it out of Europe's common currency. Following is a rough outline of the steps to be taken in the coming days if an agreement is to be reached to start negotiations on a new bailout programme for Athens, and to provide short-term funds to keep the country afloat: THURSDAY – Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has until midnight to submit detailed, comprehensive reform proposals to support Greece's request for a three-year conditional loan from the European Stability Mechanism bailout fund, along with a list of prior actions Athens commits to take before aid is disbursed. The letter will be sent to Jeroen Dijsselbloem, chairman of euro zone finance ministers, in his capacity as chairman of the ESM board. Dijsselbloem immediately forwards the plan to the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank - known jointly as the institutions - for their assessment. FRIDAY – The institutions are to send a preliminary assessment to Dijsselbloem who may ask Tsipras for changes or clarification, consult other players or send it to the Eurogroup Working Group (EWG) of deputy finance ministers and senior officials of the 19-nation euro area for expert discussion. SATURDAY – The EWG meets to discuss the institutions’ assessment and prepare a decision for Eurogroup ministers. They also discuss possible sources of interim finance to keep Greece going beyond the weekend. Euro zone sources say these pots of money could include 1.9 billion euros in 2014 profits returned to member governments from the ECB's holdings of Greek bonds, a further 1.5 billion euros in 2015 profits from the same source which member states have not yet transferred to an ESM account, and possible short-term bilateral loans from "friends of Greece". Eurogroup finance ministers meet (1300 GMT) to review the recommendation of the institutions and the EWG. They may take a conditional decision to recommend opening negotiations on a loan agreement provided Greece implements certain "prior actions" by a short deadline. The Greek parliament could meet over the weekend to enact some or all of the required measures before a euro zone summit on Sunday, or some before the summit and the rest next week, euro zone officials said. A Greek parliament official said no session has been called so far. Ministers could also decide that there is still no basis for opening negotiations. In that case, Greece could still try to take actions during the weekend, such as putting key promised reforms and tax increases through parliament, to try to convince euro zone leaders on Sunday to open the loan talks. SUNDAY – If the Eurogroup reaches a positive decision, there is no legal requirement to hold a euro zone summit or a summit of all 28 European Union leaders. However, both are currently scheduled. Euro zone sources say a euro zone summit will provide political cover for Tsipras to sell painful measures at home and for Chancellor Angela Merkel to commit to calling a special session of the German parliament next week to approve the opening of the loan negotiations. A special Bundestag session requires three days' notice. If there is no deal, an emergency EU summit will be necessary to take decisions that affect the EU budget or touch neighbouring countries that are not members of the euro zone, such as Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia. Among issues that could be discussed are humanitarian aid for Greece, measures related to Greek capital controls and possible border security measures. SUNDAY OR MONDAY - The European Central Bank's policymaking governing council will meet whether there is a deal or not to review its emergency lending assistance (ELA) for Greek banks. If there is a deal, euro zone sources expect the ECB to raise the ceiling on ELA to keep banks in funds and possibly enable them to reopen next week, since Greece will be considered on its way to re-entering an assistance programme. If there is no deal, ECB policymakers have said they will discuss a range of emergency measures to safeguard the euro zone. These could include stepping up purchases of other euro zone government bonds under the ECB's quantitative easing programme, providing support to affected central banks of non-euro neighbours of Greece and providing additional liquidity if needed to banks in other euro zone countries. NEXT WEEK - If there is a deal the German parliament holds a special session to vote on giving the government a mandate to open ESM negotiations with Greece. France has said its parliament will also meet to give political approval to a deal, although it is not legally required to do so. (Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald in Brussels, Gernot Heller and Noah Barkin in Berlin and Deepa Babington in Athens; Writing by Paul Taylor; Editing by Peter Graff)