Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras arrived in Brussels on Wednesday night for talks with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in a bid to agree a reform package for Greece before Thursday's International Monetary Fund (IMF) repayment deadline.
Mr Tsipras spoke to German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president François Hollande by phone ahead of the meeting, with all parties agreeing that an immediate solution was needed.
But with both sides in the negotiations having issued different proposals over the last 48 hours, it was unclear whether Mr Tsipras would agree to the latest plan offered by the troika of lenders, understood to include a primary surplus target of 1 per cent for Greece this year, rising incrementally to 3.5 per cent by 2018.
Political leadership
Earlier in the day Mr Tsipras urged the creditor institutions to show the “political leadership” needed to clinch a deal.
"It is necessary the institutions, and mainly the political leadership of Europe, adopt the realism that the Greek side has been showing for the past three months," he said.
Greek has been locked in standoff with its three international creditors – the European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF – over a new reform plan as Mr Tsipras's government seeks to unlock up to €7.2 billion due to it under its current bailout. A €305 million payment is due to the IMF tomorrow, the first of four payments due this month to the Washington- based fund, totalling €1.6 billion.
First discussion
Earlier, the European Commission played down expectations of a final breakthrough on the Greek impasse. "We do not expect any final outcome tonight. This is a first discussion, not a concluding one," a European Commission spokesman said. His comments were echoed by German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble, who played down hopes of an imminent agreement.
But Dr Merkel told reporters that she, along with Mr Hollande, were working with “high intensity” to reach a deal with Greece.
The ECB increased the emergency liquidity assistance it has made available to the Greek banking sector to €80.7 billion this week, an increase of about €500 million.
