Greece’s new proposals to European leaders ahead of a crunch summit today offered a ray of hope that a deal to end the country’s debt crisis can be struck after five months of deadlock.
It is not clear what concessions have been offered by either side, but Greek premier Alexis Tsipras detailed what his office called a “mutually beneficial deal” in a phone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
Juncker’s cabinet head Martin Selmayr said the Athens proposal offered “a good basis for progress”, though he described the negotiations as a “forceps delivery”, underscoring the exertions to prevent Greece crashing out of the eurozone.
The heads of the 19 eurozone countries will hold an emergency summit on the crisis in Brussels today under pressure to prevent Greece from defaulting on its debt, with a June 30 payment deadline approaching.
Greece said its new proposals were aimed at reaching a “definitive solution” to end the standoff between Athens and its creditors.
Athens announced a frenzied round of meetings before the summit, with Tsipras also scheduled to meet the leaders of its International Monetary Fund, European Union and European Central Bank creditors today.
Emergency funding
Separately, the ECB’s governing council will also meet on Monday to discuss whether to raise the level of emergency funding to Greek banks yet again, after the country’s banking system came under intense pressure with clients withdrawing massive sums in savings.
Failing a deal, Greece is likely to default on an IMF debt payment of around €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) due on June 30, setting up a potentially chaotic “Grexit” from the eurozone.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi urged the two sides to seize a “window of opportunity”, saying all conditions were in place for them to reach a “win-win accord’’.
Asian markets mostly reacted positively in morning trade, with Tokyo piling on 0.80 per cent and Hong Kong up 0.44 per cent by the break.
The euro also ticked higher, buying $1.1381 and 139.70 yen in Tokyo compared with $1.1349 and 139.23 yen in New York late Friday.