Kerin Hope in Athens and John Aglionby in London, Financial Times

Greece’s Yanis Varoufakis heads for showdown talks with his fellow eurozone finance ministers on Wednesday afternoon, buoyed by a strong endorsement from parliament for the government’s hardline stance to renegotiate its bailout.

Alexis Tsipras, Greece’s prime minister, told MPs after they passed a vote of confidence in his legislative programme in the early hours of Wednesday that the government would not yield to demands from other European capitals over its aid programme “no matter how much” Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, demanded it.

“We are not negotiating the bailout; it was cancelled by its own failure,” he told parliament before winning the vote with the support of 162 votes in the 300-seat chamber.

“I want to assure you that there is no going back. Greece cannot return to the era of bailouts.”

On Tuesday Mr Schäuble appeared to dismiss the Greek government’s plans to seek a bridge loan, issue new short-term treasury bills and renegotiate some terms of the €172bn bailout out of hand, saying he expected Athens to live up to the terms of the existing deal before he would consider new proposals.

“We are not negotiating a new programme,” Mr Schäuble said. “We already have a programme.” Mr Schäuble added that if Greece did not want a new rescue programme “then that’s it”, though he did not elaborate.

Greece’s current bailout is due to expire at the end of the month unless Athens requests an extension, which Mr Tsipras has vowed not to do.

Eurozone officials regard Wednesday’s meeting as a way to kick-start negotiations, which until now have largely been conducted through public pronouncements.

Greek stocks on Wednesday suffered further falls ahead of the finance minister talks; the Athens General fell 2.8 per cent in early trading with banks once again at the bottom of the index.

Attica Bank lost 7.5 per cent to €0.06. Eurobank Ergasias fell 4.7 per cent to €0.14.

Greek government bond yields were little changed.

EU officials have grown frustrated with what they believe is a misunderstanding of EU procedures by the new Greek government and hope the eurogroup meeting will offer Mr Varoufakis a chance to begin more formal talks over how Athens wants to proceed.

“It is the occasion for ministers to know what Mr Varoufakis will propose,” said Pierre Moscovici, the European Commission’s economic chief. “It will also be the occasion for him to see how in the other member states, the ministers will react to that.”

Officials remain hopeful that, if Mr Varoufakis can be convinced to present a concrete road map, formal negotiations could be signed off at the eurogroup’s regularly-scheduled meeting on Monday.

“The 16th of February is kind of decisive,” Mr Moscovici added.

Mr Varoufakis told the Greek parliament that he could not rule out a stand-off with his country’s creditors. “We’re not seeking a clash. We will do everything to avoid it,” he said, but added: “If you’re not willing to even consider a clash, you’re not negotiating.”

The eurozone finance ministers’ meeting is followed on Thursday by the first EU leaders’ summit since Mr Tsipras was elected last month.