Greece's leader was trying to bridge differences with creditors today on a plan to make more reforms in Greece in exchange for bailout loans the country needs to avoid a potentially disastrous default next week.
Before leaving for meetings in Brussels, the leftwing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras criticised the International Monetary Fund as being needlessly picky about the reforms Greece had proposed.
The IMF reportedly finds that the budget savings reforms, which creditors are demanding in exchange for loans, are focused too much on tax increases that can hurt businesses, rather than spending cuts.
Tsipras said that as long as Athens delivered the right amount of savings, the IMF should have no say in what specific policies a sovereign country adopts.
"This odd stance seems to indicate that either there is no interest in an agreement or that special interests are being backed," Tspiras wrote on his official Twitter account.
The latest disagreement hit markets, with Europe's Stoxx 50 index down 1 per cent and shares on the Athens Stock Exchage dropping 4 per cent in afternoon trading there. Government bond yields in Greece, Spain and Portugal also rose, an indication of investor concern.
Tsipras comes to EU headquarters early to meet with the heads of the European Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank to hopefully clinch a deal before a European Union summit opens late Thursday.
The finance ministers of the 19 nations that use the euro are expected to work deep into the night to finalize the details of any deal before the leaders open their summit.
"Their expectation is not to negotiate," said an official of the EU government leaders. "Their expectation is to welcome an agreement," the EU official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.
Greece has a USD 1.8-billion debt to pay on Tuesday which it cannot afford it unless the creditors unfreeze 8.1 billion dollars in bailout money.
Despite the lingering disagreements with the IMF and several EU officials, Greek Economy Minister Giorgos Stathakis said he was confident an agreement could be finalized within the day.
"The details are what's left -- a small gap," he told private Mega Television. "It'll be over today."
Elected on an anti-bailout platform in January, Tsipras' left-wing Syriza party had promised to scrap all austerity measures and demand forgiveness on a chunk of the country's bailout debt.
