Greece says to restart talks in Brussels, submit counter-proposals

[ATHENS] Greece's government is ready to submit counter-proposals to bridge differences with its creditors and will restart negotiations in Brussels on Saturday, a government official said on Friday.

The comments came after the IMF withdrew its team of experts from talks in Brussels on Thursday over a failure to break a stalemate in talks for a cash-for-reforms deal.

"The Greek government believes we are closer than ever to a deal because we are only 0.25 percentage points apart on the primary surplus target," the official said in a statement on condition of anonymity.

The official called on Europe to show "political will", saying it was "unimaginable" that Europe could head for a split over "such a small difference" as well as opposition to restoring of collective pay bargaining rights for Greek workers.

REUTERS