Greece wants 'fair solution' to debt offer stalemate

Hopes of Greece avoiding a debt disaster that could force it out of the Eurozone hang by a thread.

The danger of immediate calamity was averted today when the European Central Bank poured emergency funding into Greek banks.

They had to intervene, after Savers withdrew more than a Billion Euros in a single day.

ITV News Correspondent Martin Geissler reports:

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A Greek source has said that the European Central Bank (ECB) has approved an increase in emergency credit for Greece's banks.

The banks need the credit to stay afloat, particularly as Greeks have been withdrawing more money amid uncertainty over the country's future.

The move came after the ECB's governing council held a teleconference to discuss the issue.

A Greek banking official said the precise sum of the new credit will not be announced.

"The Greek banking system has no financing problems, and central bankers are looking to a positive outcome" during Monday's meetings on Greece, said the official.

Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has said that Greece does not believe its European partners will ultimately let the country leave the euro zone. As the country races to agree a cash-for-reforms deal with its creditors, Athens is trying to clinch a deal before an end-June deadline to release the final tranche of a 240 billion euro bailout and avert the risk of the country crashing out of the euro zone.

"I don't believe that any sensible European bureaucrat or politician will go down that road," he told Radio Four's Today programme.

Asked whether the European Union and the International Monetary Fund were bluffing Varoufakis said: "I hope they are."

Asked whether it was possible that Greece could leave the single currency, Varoufakis told the BBC he did not think any European official wanted to see that outcome.

Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras has intensified his diplomatic offensive to convince European creditors to pay out the bailout loans the country needs to avoid default.

The creditors told Greece it must improve its offer of economic reforms before they release €7.2 billion the country requires to pay debts due at the end of the month.

In Brussels for the EU-CELAC Latin America summit, Mr Tsipras had a meeting with EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and another with German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Francois Hollande that lasted into the early hours of Thursday morning.

"We decided to intensify the effort to bridge the remaining differences and proceed - I think will proceed - to a solution," Mr Tsipras said after the talks.

The discussions came after the European Commission said the offers made by Greece last week were still not good enough to unlock the bailout funds.

"For this final push, the commission is of the view that the ball is clearly now in the court of the Greek government," commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said.

Greece wants to continue to seek common ground with its EU and IMF lenders, a government official has said.

He said Greece wanted to continue to negotiate "at the political level". He also said there should be no deadline in the talks, just determination to find a "viable and fair solution."

The remarks come after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told parliament on Friday that the lenders' latest proposal for more austerity measures from Greece in return for aid was "absurd."

Earlier today, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker voiced exasperation with Tsipras's tactics in the months-long negotiations.

He reaffirmed that a Greek exit from the single currency area was not an option but cautioned that that did not mean he could "pull a rabbit out of a hat" to prevent it.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will hold talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande on the sidelines of a summit in Brussels on Wednesday.

The three leaders held a teleconference on Saturday, which a Greek government official said was held in a "good climate", without giving details on the content of the call.

Greece is locked in a standoff with its euro zone and IMF creditors over an aid package aimed at unlocking money for the cash-strapped country.

The Greek prime minister has claimed the EU's latest demands for pension cuts in exchange for bailout money amounts to a humiliation of his country.

While Alexis Tsipras delivered a bullish statement to the Greek parliament amid a delay to its owed 1.5 billion euros payment, pensioners in the ancient country's capital told ITV News they have nothing left.

ITV News Correspondent Emma Murphy reports from Athens.

Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras has labelled a cash for reforms offer by the debts-seeking EU as "absurd" and urged his country's international creditors to think again.

Tsipras told the Greek parliament a proposal by Athens made earlier this week was the only realistic basis for a deal.

"The proposals submitted by lenders are unrealistic," Tsipras said. "The Greek government cannot consent to absurd proposals."

His speech came two days after Greece's international creditors signalled they were ready to compromise to avert a default, while Athens warned it might skip an IMF loan repayment that was due this week.

The IMF subsequently agreed to bundle Greece's latest debt repayments into a single one due on June 30th.

Mr Tsipras said despite his opposition to the latest proposal, Greece remains closer to a deal than ever before.

The Greece government may call a snap election if the country's international lenders do not soften their terms for debt repayment, a senior minister has warned.

Deputy Social Security Minister Dimitris Stratoulis, a hardliner in the left-learning government, said:

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