Greece offers new proposals ahead of emergency summit

European leaders are set to meet in Brussels for an emergency summit on Greece's debt crisis, after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras made a new offer on a reforms package to foreign creditors, signaling eleventh-hour concessions to break a deadlock that has pushed Greece to the brink of bankruptcy.

After months of wrangling, and with anxious depositors pulling billions of euros out of Greek banks, Tsipras's leftist government seemed to suggest a new willingness this weekend to make concessions that could unlock frozen aid to avert default.

A day before emergency meetings, including a summit of eurozone leaders in Brussels, Tsipras was holed up in a marathon cabinet meeting and discussed the new offer with the leaders of Germany, France and the European Commission by phone.

Late Sunday, the chief-of-staff to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called the latest proposal from Greece a "good basis for progress" in talks scheduled among euro zone leaders on Monday.

It was not immediately clear how far the new proposal yielded to creditors' demands for additional spending cuts and tax hikes, but Tsipras detailed what his office called a "mutually beneficial deal" in a phone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

"The prime minister presented the three leaders Greece's proposal for a mutually beneficial agreement that will give a definitive solution and not a postponement of addressing the problem," a statement from Tsipras's office said.

The offer raised hopes that a final deal could be wrangled before Athens runs out of cash. Greece said its new proposals were aimed at reaching a "definitive solution" to end the standoff between Athens and its creditors.

Tsipras was elected in January on a pledge to end harsh austerity measures that were part of the terms of two rounds of European bailouts for the country, which he and many Greeks blame for Greece’s ongoing economic malaise. At more than 26 percent, unemployment in the country is the highest in Europe.

Tsipras has resisted demands to cut pension spending. But Greek officials have suggested Athens may be willing to consider raising value-added taxes or other levies to appease lenders.

"There is no time to lose. Every day counts. Talks and negotiations must continue so that an agreement is reached," Hollande told a joint news conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Locked out of bond markets and with bailout aid frozen since summer last year, Athens is running out of cash. The deputy finance minister on Sunday confirmed Athens had enough money to pay public sector wages and pensions this month.

But Athens also urgently needs access to funds to avoid defaulting on a close to $2 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund that falls due at the end of the month. As the crisis gets pushed from one meeting to the next, each side has put the responsibility on the other's shoulder for finding a deal.

European ministers have played down the prospect of a final agreement on Monday but hope a political understanding can be reached in time for a full deal by the end of June.

For a deal to work, Tsipras will need a solution that is acceptable to his party or else may be pushed to call a snap election or a referendum to secure a mandate for an agreement.

Separately on Sunday, thousands of people rallied in front of parliament in Athens urging Tsipras to resist pressure from international creditors about more austerity measures.

The demonstration by supporters of Tsipras's ruling Syriza party, and others opposed to the euro, was the second anti-euro rally in a week in central Athens.

Singing, waving Greek flags and banners with slogans such as "No to the euro"; "The People will not be blackmailed"; and "The country's not for sale," several thousand people filled the street in front of parliament.

"They want to humiliate us, why else do they insist on all these measures? We will not tolerate it any more," said 65-year-old former teacher Yiota Kananakari.

Meanwhile, the mood over negotiations has hardened in Germany, which has contributed more money than any other country to bailing out Greece. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is under pressure from within her ranks not to give in to Greek demands, even if that means contemplating Greece leaving the euro zone.

Merkel's Bavarian allies warned against giving in to Greece, with senior Christian Social Union lawmaker Hans Michelbach saying he saw no realistic chance of an agreement on Monday.

"If the EU lets the government in Athens get away with its intransigence, we can bury the euro," Michelbach said in a statement on Sunday.

"Either Greece declares itself willing for a viable solution or the country must leave the euro. The euro zone could cope with the consequences of a Greek exit," he said.

Al Jazeera and Reuters