Hopes for Greek deal rise as creditors open to debt relief

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece finally met a deadline that counted on Thursday and made a series of proposals that its creditors needed by midnight to set off a mad rush toward a weekend deal to stave off a financial collapse of the nation.

It raised hopes that Greece can get the rescue deal that will prevent a catastrophic exit from the euro after key creditors said they were open to discussing how to ease the country's debt load, a long-time sticking point in their talks.

After months of foot-dragging despite impending chaos, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras sent the proposals to the country's international creditors late Thursday, and the spokesman for eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem tweeted that it was "important for institutions to consider these in their assessment" of the Greek situation.


Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, right, uses his cell phone as Minister of Interior and Administrative Reconstruction Nikos Voutsis speaks to him at the Greek Parliament in Athens, Thursday, July 9, 2015.

Finance officials from the European institutions and the International Monetary Fund were to fine-comb through the proposals on Friday before the 19 eurozone finance ministers assess them on Saturday.

"The realistic proposal from Greece will have to be matched by an equally realistic proposal on debt sustainability from the creditors. Only then will we have a win-win situation," Tusk said.

"I believe he will have to get an agreement. We will pay dearly for it, but at least we'll get an agreement," said mechanic Pantelis Niarchos, walking down the street in central Athens.

Weidmann said he welcomed the fact that central bank credit "is no longer being used to finance capital flight caused by the Greek government."

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150709/eu--greece-bailout-411eed7237.html

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What was that loudly-touted referendum about, again?