EU and Greece in final push over bailout deal

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.