Eurozone crisis live: Troika talks begin in Greece 9.24am: Mario Monti has insisted that he is still committed to "budget stability," in what could be an attempt to calm German jitters before this today's meeting with Angela Merkel in Rome. In an interview (in German) with business newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Monti denied that the agreements made at last week's summit meant he had triumphed over Merkel (as Italy did over Germany in the Euro 2012 football. tournament) Instead, Monti argued, the message is that: Angela plus Mario equals a step forward for European economic policy. Monti also called the Summit package a "compelling package," and insisted that he was a dedicated supporter of budget stability, adding: Not for nothing I'm personally often viewed as "very German" in Italy. 9.02am: Some rather poor economic news from Germany was just released, with the service sector contracting slightly last month. The German services PMI came in at 49.9, down on May's 51.8, and just into contraction territory for the first time since last September, according to Markit. That suggests that the core of the eurozone is now feeling the full impact of the crisis. France's service sector suffered a deeper decline with a PMI of 47.3, which was however an improvement on May's 44.6 (and better than Spain - see 8.21am). Despite Germany's decline, the overall eurozone service sector PMI improved slightly to 47.1 (from 46.7 in May). As this graph shows, the eurozone composite PMI (the measure of activity across services, manufacturing and construction), nudged a little higher last month to 46.4, from 46.0 in May. That's still a contraction, of course. 8.45am: European stock markets are generally down this morning, a reversal after several 'up days'. FTSE 100: down 14 points at 5673, - 0.25% German DAX: down 18 points at 6559, - 0.28% French CAC: down 17 points at 3253, -0.55% Spanish IBEX: down 39 points at 7180, -0.54% Italian IBEX: down 137 points at 14357, -0.94% Traders have returned to worrying about the state of the European economy, rather than taking too much optimism from last week's Summit. 8.21am: Spain's service sector has shrunk for the 12th month in a row, as the Spanish recession deepens. Data just released by Markit showed that its services PMI (a measure of activity in the sector), came in at just 43.4 in June. That's well below the 50 point mark that separates expansion from contraction, showing another fall in activity. On the upside, it's an improvement on May's 41.8. But as this graph of composite PMI (including manufacturing and construction) shows, such a sharp decline means that Spanish GDP must still be shrinking.... ... and that makes it even harder for the Madrid government to address its debt crisis. Update: But as jamesmitch flags up in the comments below, there was one piece of good news for Spain yesterday: the unemployment total fell by almost 100,000 in June. Many of the new jobs were probably short-term (related to tourism), and economy minister Luis de Guindos advised against getting too carried away. But it's a welcome sign. 8.14am: Christine Lagarde has already raised the tension ahead of today's talks in Athens, by saying she is not considering renegotiating the terms of Greece's bailout agreement. Interviewed last night, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund said the Troika is in Athens to check on Greece's progress, not to offer more concessions. Lagarde told CNBC that: I'm not in a negotiations or renegotiations mood at all. We are in a fact-finding mood. I'm sure they will have excellent numbers to show in various directions. I'm very interested in seeing what has been done in the last few months, in terms of complying with the programme. The fear, though, is that Athens has fallen behind the plan agreed back in March, when its second aid package was agreed. There's a full transcript of Lagarde's interview here. 8.06am: Here's today's agenda: The Troika talks in Athens will begin with a meeting with finance minister designate Yannis Stournaras - 9am BST, or 11am EEST • Greek PM Antonis Samaras meets with coalition partners Evangelos Venizelos and Fotis Kouvelis at 11am BST, or 1pm EEST Angela Merkel and Mario Monti meet in Rome: press conference expected around 3.30pm BST. On the economics front: Eurozone service sector PMI - 9am BST • UK Services PMI - 9.30am BST • Eurozone retail sales for May: 10am BST Bond sales this morning: UK sells £4.5bn of five-year gilts • Germany sells €4bn of five-year gilts 8.00am: Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the eurozone financial crisis. Coming up today ... officials from the IMF, European Central Bank and the European commission are beginning talks with Greece's officials today, as their visit to Athens gets officially under way. While the Troika will be assessing what progress Athens has made in implementing its second international bailout, the new Greek government will probably be pushing for some concessions. We'll be tracking developments as the two sides meet. Elsewhere, Angela Merkel and Mario Monti will hold talks in Rome this afternoon - the first time they've met since the EU summit (where Italy's prime minister wrung some serious concessions out of the German chancellor). Another Troika visit is taking place in Cyprus today over its planned rescue. We also have new economic data from Europe's service sectors to look forward to, and bond auctions from the UK and Germany.