Athens - Hopes were high Tuesday that Greece and its creditors can seal a debt deal in the exactly one week left to avert default, but those could fade as the Greek premier must convince his anti-austerity party to approve concessions needed to unblock bailout funds.
"We are very near (an agreement), the next 48 hours will be decisive," said Greek government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis, after Monday's emergency eurozone summit ended with an optimistic assessment of Athens' latest proposals to its European Union and International Monetary Fund creditors.
"I am convinced that we will reach an agreement," EU commissioner for economic affairs Pierre Moscovici told French radio Tuesday after Greece submitted an 11th-hour reform plan to free up crucial funds from its international bailout.
Optimism drove European stocks up further after a huge rally the previous day that saw Wall Street hit record highs. Athens closed 6.1 percent higher Tuesday after rocketing up 9 percent on Monday. Other eurozone markets were also showing strong gains in late afternoon trading.
Moscovici warned however that "work remained to be done" on the issues of value-added tax and pension reform -- key sticking points for the radical left government in Athens.
And the Greek government also issued a word of caution Tuesday, pointing out that any accord would have to be approved by a majority in parliament before June 30.
"If the agreement is not approved by the deputies of the governmental majority, the government cannot remain in place," Sakellaridis said.
Getting approval could prove a tough battle for Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who was elected on an anti-austerity platform, and may risk members of his hard-left Syriza party viewing him as backsliding on campaign promises.
Time is running short as the leaders of the 19 eurozone countries have ordered their finance ministers to hold fresh talks on Wednesday to thrash out the details of an agreement, ahead of a full meeting of all 28 EU member states on Thursday.
Greece is up against a deadline of June 30 to repay the IMF around 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion).
Meanwhile growing fears of a bank run in Greece amid a huge outflow in deposits again prompted the European Central Bank on Tuesday to inject more emergency funding to cover withdrawals.
AFP
