Updated | Long night expected as Eurogroup will do 'all possible' to reach agreement
Greek PM says creditors have rejected his government's proposals - Edward Scicluna optimistic an agreement can be reached
Euro area finance ministers are preparing for a long night of discussionsin what has been described as the evening for either an agreement with the Greek side or nothing.
Taking to Twitter, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said that "certain institutions" have rejected his government's proposals.
The repeated rejection of equivalent measures by certain institutions never occurred before-neither in Ireland nor Portugal. #Greece (1/2)
— Alexis Tsipras (@tsipras_eu) June 24, 2015
This odd stance seems to indicate that either there is no interest in an agreement or that special interests are being backed. #Greece (2/2)
— Alexis Tsipras (@tsipras_eu) June 24, 2015
"The repeated rejection of equivalent measures by certain institutions never occurred before - neither in Ireland nor Portugal. This odd stance seems to indicate that either there is no interest in an agreement or that special interests are being backed," Tspiras said.
His comments continue to fuel the renewed uncertainty surrounding a positive conclusion for both Greece and its creditors. Greece needs to secure the last tranche of its bailout programme or risk a €1.6 billion default with the IMF.
According to Bloomberg, Tsipras was handed a revised terms for an agreement on bailout funds this morning. Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem told reporters in Brussels that " there is still a lot of work to do ... We are not there yet".
However, Malta's finance minister Edward Scicluna expressed surprise that the Greek proposals would be rejected just like that.
In the ongoing negotiations, the institutions are believed to have asked Greece to seek a balance between expenditure and revenue as the proposals put forward see Greece increasing its revenue from tourism and taxes on companies but little effort was shown to cutting its expenditure.
"Greece requires proper measures to fuel growth," Scicluna told MaltaToday. "It's going to be a long one where we try to reach an agreement. I can't see us walking out of tonight's meeting with nothing in hand. It's either an agreement or not and the probability is that will [agree]," he said.