Greece, creditors say still no deal ahead of eurozone meeting

[BRUSSELS] Greece and its EU-IMF creditors prepared to submit rival proposals to end a five-month debt row, indicating there was still no deal ahead of a meeting of eurozone finance ministers on Thursday, sources said.

"There is a set of documents unanimously agreed by the (creditor) institutions that has now gone to the Eurogroup and can be the basis for a deal," an EU official told AFP minutes before the ministerial talks, the fourth meeting in a week.

A Greek official said separately: "Our proposals were detailed and will be presented to the Eurogroup." The European official added that the creditor proposal was "a basis for discussion, not a ultimatum, not a take it or leave it." But a senior eurozone official said the proposal was "as far as the institutions could go towards the Greeks." "There is no answer yet," the source added.

The proposals came after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras held a second day of critical talks with the heads of the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank, the three main monitors of Greece's bailout.

This meeting broke up without a deal, leaving ministers only the rival proposals to consider.

The issue will also be raised at a meeting of EU leaders also in Brussels on Thursday night, ahead of a June 30 IMF payment deadline.

Greece needs a deal to unblock the last 7.2 billion euros (S$10.8 billion) of its EU-IMF bailout in order to meet the 1.5-billion-euro IMF loan repayment. If it doesn't get the funds it is likely that Greece will default, setting off a chain of events that could result in it crashing out of the euro and even the EU.

AFP