Factbox - Tight weekend 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: FRIDAY – The European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank - known collectively as the institutions - are assessing: (a) whether Greece meets eligibility requirements for the three-year loan that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras requested on Wednesday from the European Stability Mechanism bailout fund; and (b) if the list of "prior actions" and longer-term economic reforms he proposed in a letter on Thursday convinces them it can pay the money back. The heads of the institutions - Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, ECB chief Mario Draghi and the IMF's Christine Lagarde - held a lunchtime teleconference with Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister who chairs the board of the ESM and the Eurogroup of 19 euro zone finance ministers who must approve or reject Athens' application. Dijsselbloem said after the call that he was still waiting for a technical analysis. Officials have said the assessment should be in before the end of Friday, at which point Dijsselbloem should share it with the rest of the Eurogroup. The Greek parliament plans to vote on Friday, in a session starting at 1600 GMT, on a request by Tsipras for support for his negotiation of measures to satisfy creditors. SATURDAY – The Euro Working Group of senior officials reporting to the eurogroup ministers meets in Brussels at 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) to discuss the institutions’ assessment and prepare a decision for the Eurogroup. 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 finance 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. 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, scheduled for 1400 GMT) 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, scheduled for 1600 GMT, 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 migration and border security measures. MONDAY - The European Central Bank's policymaking governing council is expected to hold a conference call 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 slightly to keep banks in funds since Greece will be considered on its way to re-entering an assistance programme. But the ECB is likely to want capital controls to remain in place to guard against any bank run and to require some recapitalisation of banks before they reopen. 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 communicating the bank's determination to do everything necessary to preserve stability, 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 other euro zone banks. 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. Several other parliaments may review their governments' decisions, including in the Netherlands, Estonia, Austria and Finland. (Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald in Brussels, Gernot Heller and Noah Barkin in Berlin and Deepa Babington and Matthias Williams in Athens; Writing by Paul Taylor; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)