Brussels, 15/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - A Euro Working Group was working flat-out on Friday 15 March 2013 to ensure that the meeting of eurozone finance ministers that evening would be able to make progress on the prospects of an aid programme for Cyprus. While some hope for agreement in principle, Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan expressed doubt that a deal would be reached on Friday. Upon his arrival in Brussels on Friday, the head of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijseelbloem, said they would take stock of the Euro Working Group results, discuss to try to get agreement and see how far they got. Nobody knew as we went to print whether Dijsselbloem would be convening a new Eurogroup meeting next week, but a European source said it was likely. Dijseelbloem's predecessor, the prime minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker, said he couldn't imagine the weekend going by without a solution for Cyprus. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it would take time to find a viable solution and similar noises were made by the International Monetary Fund, which wants a “sustainable” solution to the crisis in Cyprus. The demands being made on Cyprus by some countries are no secret - such as reducing the number of banks and providing proof that the country is tackling money-laundering - but the question of debt viability is another matter, although the amount of cash to be lent to the island might be reduced to between €10-13 billion. (EL/transl.fl)