Greek debt deal likely this weekend: Commissioner

(DAVOS) - European economic commissioner Olli Rehn said Friday that he expected Greece to agree a deal with private creditors to write-down its debt this weekend and at the latest in the next few days.

"We're very close," he told the World Economic Forum in Davos. "They're about to close a deal, if not today maybe over the weekend, preferably in January rather than February."

As he spoke in Switzerland, the Greek government in Athens was in talks with private creditors on a voluntary exchange of bonds that would wipe 100 billion euros ($130 billion) off the country's debt of 350 billion euros.

Rehn said that Greece would remain a special case and that the private lenders would not be required to take losses on any other eurozone country's debt, thanks to plans for a better eurozone financial safety net.

"While I know more or less how the eurozone will look in the next three years, I know that next three days will be very crucial," he said.

"We need a very sustainable solution for Greece, even if Greece is a special case," he told the audience of business leaders and top politicians. "Private sector involvement will not be applied to any other country of the EU."