On 5 October 2011 in Brussels, José Manuel Barroso, President of the EC, received Angela Merkel, German Federal Chancellor. Angela Merkel then met several Members of the Barroso II Commission. Over lunch and in the afternoon, the talks came after two days of negotiations between EU Ministers for Finance in Luxembourg ended without a breakthrough and Athens was again denied the next eight-billion-euro bailout cash it needed to avoid a default within weeks.