By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stocks fell Monday, easing from record highs, with Greek shares in the red as European officials prepare for further discussions about the country's debt crisis.

The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.6% to 391.83, with losses in all major sectors, including a nearly 1% decline for the telecom group .

Discussions about Greece's financial troubles took center-stage in the markets. The finance ministers in the eurozone, known as the Eurogroup, were set to hold their regular meeting in Brussels at 2:30 p.m. London time, or 10 a.m. Eastern time, with talks about a reform program for Greece expected to dominate.

Heading into the meeting, the Eurogroup's chairman, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said Sunday that Greece's recently submitted list of economic-reform proposals wasn't complete, and the country isn't likely to get another aid tranche this month, Bloomberg News reported. Greece is at risk of running out of cash later this month unless further financial aid is unlocked.

Meanwhile, Greece Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told an Italian newspaper that Greece may hold a referendum (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/greece-hints-at-referendum-over-eu-rescue-demands-2015-03-08) on whether to accept its creditors' financial-aid terms if the government decides they are unacceptable.

The Stoxx 600 on Friday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-extend-multiyear-highs-ahead-of-qe-launch-2015-03-06) finished 0.1% higher, holding its best level since mid-2007, and marked its fifth consecutive weekly advance ahead of Monday's start of the European Central Bank's massive asset-purchase program. Read: 7 things to know about the ECB's QE game plan (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/7-things-to-know-about-the-ecbs-qe-game-plan-2015-03-06).

The euro on Monday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/euro-hovers-at-12-year-lows-as-greek-worries-heat-up-again-2015-03-09) was trading at $1.0877 (EURUSD) , up from around $1.0839 late Friday.

"Judging by the performance of markets, the ECB's commitment to buy euro-area assets in enormous quantities has obviously won out, with the ongoing issues in Greece simply being seen as a nuisance in the background," Dermot O'Leary, chief economist at Goodbody Stockbrokers, wrote Monday.

Nevertheless, the "bottom line here is that the risk of an accident in Greece remains a very real one," said O'Leary. "It is clear that a third bailout will also have to be thrashed out over the coming months."

Indexes: As ECB purchases kicked off, yields on Italian, Spanish and Portuguese government debt fell to near-record lows (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-bond-yields-drop-as-ecb-launches-qe-2015-03-09) on Monday. Yields and prices move in opposite direction.

Greece's Athex Composite fell 3.3% to 821.84. Greek banking stocks were leading losses on the Stoxx 600, with Piraeus Bank SA dropping 6%, National Bank of Greece SA down 5.5% and Eurobank Ergasias SA off 5.4%. Interest rates for 10-year Greek government bonds jumped 47 basis points to 9.749%, according to electronic trading platform Tradeweb.

Germany's DAX 30 shed 0.2% to 11,523.60 after ending Friday's session at a new record closing high. Earlier Monday, German data showed the trade surplus in Europe's largest economy narrowed slightly in January (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/german-trade-surplus-narrows-slightly-in-january-2015-03-09-54854423) in adjusted terms, as exports fell and imports slipped.

France's CAC 40 fell 0.4% to 4,942.43 and the U.K's FTSE 100 was down (http://www.marketwatch.com/storyno-meta-for-guid) 0.6% at 6,867.82.

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