Paris: France and Spain expressed confidence Wednesday that a deal would be reached to help prevent Greece possibly defaulting on its debt this week as the Greek prime minister was due to hold last ditch talks.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was to meet European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday evening, with concerns that Athens does not have the money to make a 300 million euro ($334 million) repayment to the IMF.
"We are confident of the chance for an accord (after) extremely intense Franco-German work on the subject of Greece," French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron told journalists after a meeting with German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel.
Macron said German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande "have constantly expressed their desire to find a solution to keep Greece in the eurozone and meet its obligations."
However Gabriel said that "now it depends on Greece" to find a solution and "there is not much room for manoeuvre."
Later in the morning, Spanish Finance Minister Luis de Guindos said on the sidelines of an OECD meeting in Paris that he is "totally sure" a deal would be reached, according to Bloomberg News.
Tsipras will outline to Juncker his government`s new 46-page proposal it hopes will serve as the basis for a compromise to unlock 7.2 billion euros in bailout loans.
Tsipras has promised to implement a series of privatisations that he had previously opposed, and to reform the value-added tax system as well as the pension system.
