(VOvworld) - Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis warned on Monday that Greece could face a cash crunch within two weeks, and was in urgent need of the last tranche of rescue funds from its 240-billion-euro bailout.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis speaks during a press conference after a Eurogroup Council meeting on May 11, 2015 at the EU Headquarters in Brussels. Photo: © AFP John Thys

His warning came as European finance ministers kicked off an Economic and Financial Affairs Council meeting on Monday in Brussels, where EU ministers struck a hard line with Greek negotiators, demanding the country make further reforms before it would lend a further 7.2 billion euro of the combined 240 billion euro bailout. But Eurozone finance ministers welcomed the positive progress that had been made by Greece, adding that more time was needed to agree on the "open issues".