Greece and its European creditors are converging on Brussels to try to bridge major differences over Athens' request for a six-month loan extension to help pay off massive debts.

The meeting on Friday is the third among finance ministers from the 19-nation eurozone in just over a week.

It was called to respond to the left-wing government's demand for more time to finalize its current bailout program and negotiate new arrangements with its partners that will be less onerous on Greek citizens.

Greece's most influential creditor, Germany, claims the request is a "Trojan horse" to help the government dodge its commitments.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras swept to power last month on a pledge to ease the austerity measures championed by Germany and reorganize the 240 billion euro bailout debt.