Brussels: Greece`s international lenders raised hopes for a desperately needed bailout agreement this week to save Athens from default and a possible euro exit, despite failing to reach a deal at crucial talks on Monday.
Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem praised an eleventh hour reform proposal from Greece as a "welcome step" that leaders from the 19-nation eurozone would discuss but not approve at a meeting later Monday.
Athens stocks closed up 9 percent and Europe`s main markets all surged on hope that an end to the five-month standoff between the radical leftist Greek government and its EU-IMF creditors before a deadline on June 30.
"It is a welcome step and a step in a positive direction, so I think it is also an opportunity to get that deal later this week and that is what we will work for", Dijsselbloem said after the meeting of eurozone finance ministers.
He said however that the ministers would probably have to meet again later this week after further talks between Athens and its creditors, before another summit of all 28 EU leaders on Thursday.
The optimism was shared by European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, a key power-broker in the talks who greeted Tsipras with hugs and kisses earlier, who said "my aim is a deal by the end of the week."
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was also meeting hardline International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde and European Central Bank head Mario Draghi before the leaders` summit.The Greek proposals sent to Brussels overnight were a last-ditch bid to unlock the final 7.2 billion euro tranche of its international bailout, which creditors have refused to release unless Greece agrees to more austerity measures.
Without the bailout cash Greece will be unable to meet a 1.5-billion-euro ($1.7-billion) IMF payment on June 30, and a default could send Athens crashing out of the single currency and possibly the EU.
But Tsipras was elected in January promising to end five years of austerity caused by bailouts, and his office said Monday the new offer still refused to make concessions on key red lines, including on budget targets, pensions and increasing the VAT on electricity.
"We`re here to conclude a viable economic accord," Tsipras said as he arrived in Brussels.
Several demonstrations backing Greece`s stand against more austerity measures were held in European capitals including Brussels, Berlin, Rome and Paris over the weekend.
The emergency eurozone summit was called last week by EU President Donald Tusk in a bid to resolve the crisis at the highest level after finance minister-level talks collapsed last week.
Tsipras has long been trying to get the issue dealt with at the political level by EU leaders, with Athens resisting cutting a deal with ministers and number-crunching technocrats.
But numbers remain the problem, with growing fears of a bank run in Greece amid a huge outflow in deposits.
The ECB on Monday again decided to inject more emergency funding into Greek banks to cover withdrawals of cash by worried depositors.The meeting of eurozone ministers began on a darker note in line with the rainy weather in Brussels, with European paymaster Germany warning that there was nothing new in Greece`s latest plans.
"I do not know of any new proposals. We do not have any substantial proposals until now," said finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.
Ministers said there had been confusion overnight with Greece sending two sets of proposals, one late on Sunday night and another first thing Monday morning, making a final deal impossible.
"There was such confusion during the night with all the alternative versions of the Greek proposals coming in that there hasn`t been any preparation," Irish finance minister Michael Noonan said.
Failing a deal, Greece is likely to default on the IMF payment of around 1.5 billion euros, setting up a potentially chaotic "Grexit" from the eurozone, which Greece`s central bank has said could also see it cast out of the EU.
The EU`s involvement in Greece`s bailout, which was to provide 240 billion euros in loans in exchange for drastic austerity measures and reforms, runs out at the end of this month, but IMF support is scheduled to continue to March 2016.
