Brussels: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is set to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and the EU`s top officials on the sidelines of a Brussels summit this week to plead Athens`s case for help, officials said Tuesday.
Tsipras requested the talks with key actors in the crisis over Greece`s bailout and its looming cash crunch, and the meeting is set to take place alongside the summit of 28 leaders on Thursday and Friday, they said.
"I can confirm that (EU President) Tusk is in contact with leaders, including Prime Minister Tsipras with the aim of organising a meeting on Greece in the margins of the European Council this week," Preben Aamann, the spokesman for European Council President Donald Tusk, told AFP.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is also set to join Tsipras, Merkel, Hollande and Tusk at the sideline talks, officials said, while European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi might also attend.
The timing has not yet been decided although Tsipras has asked for a meeting on Thursday morning before the summit starts, a European source said.
The talks would be a chance for embattled leftist leader Tsipras to convince Merkel and Hollande, the key political duo in the eurozone, to accept Greece`s promises of reform and avert an exit by Athens from the euro.
Tsipras is also due to meet Merkel in Berlin on Monday.
Greece is not officially on the agenda for the summit, with Tusk said to be keen to stop individual countries hijacking meetings of the full 28 EU leaders.
The summit is supposed to be mainly devoted to European energy policy and to the crisis in Ukraine.
Greece won a four-month extension to its 240-billion- ($255 billion) EU-IMF bailout in February, but has not received the last tranche because Brussels insists on first approving Athens`s new reform package.
The Tsipras government`s refusal to fall into line with eurozone partners over its massive bailout has angered member governments, especially powerhouse Germany, but Spain and Portugal as well.
Tsipras is under intense pressure to agree to the EU`s terms, but on Tuesday he unveiled a surprise trip to Russia for April, at a time when Moscow is at loggerheads with the European Union over the conflict in Ukraine.
