Greece's economy minister has
spelled out the terms of new proposals to end deadlock on its debt
crisis, amid hopes a deal can now be struck this week.
It includes new taxes on businesses and the wealthy, Giorgios Stathakis told the BBC in an exclusive interview.
Eurozone finance ministers have welcomed the plan, saying there could be a deal "within days".
Greece is required to repay a €1.6bn (£1.1bn) International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan by the end of the month.
If it does not, it risks crashing out of the single currency and possibly the EU.
Eurozone leaders are currently discussing Greece's proposals at an emergency summit in Brussels.
Mr
Stathakis told the BBC's Robert Peston he was confident the new
proposals to balance the government's books had broken the deadlock with
its creditors.
"We [will] try to remove the tax burden from pensions and wages towards business and the wealthy," he said.
He said the proposals also included an increase in the VAT rate for some selected items.
Analysis - Robert Peston, BBC economics editor
Greece's
economy minister Giorgios Stathakis told me that his Syriza government,
led by Alexis Tsipras, had avoided crossing its red lines with the new
proposals.
So, he said, there would be no further reductions in
pensions or public-sector wages. And there would be no increase in VAT
on electricity.
He also said that the government had agreed with
the IMF and eurozone governments that the targeted budget surplus would
be 1% of GDP or national income this year, 2% next year and 3% the year
after.
There will be no agreement with creditors to cut Greece's
massive burden of debt, despite Syriza's earlier insistence on this. But
Mr Stathakis told me he expects eurozone government heads to issue a
communique later saying that debt relief will be on the agenda for
negotiation in coming months. Read more from Robert Meanwhile,
dozens of riot police have been deployed to prevent clashes between
anti-austerity and pro-euro protesters gathered outside the Greek
parliament building.
Speaking ahead of Monday's summit, European Council President Donald
Tusk said the latest Greek proposals were the "first real proposals in
many weeks".
"This evening I want all cards on the table. That
doesn't mean I want to negotiate technical details, but it means I want
to end this political gambling," he said.
French President
Francois Hollande, also attending the meeting, said he saw improvements
with the proposals but warned "not everything has been resolved".
Talks
have been in deadlock for five months. The European Commission, the IMF
and the European Central Bank (ECB) are unwilling to unlock the final
€7.2bn tranche of bailout funds until Greece agrees to economic reforms.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has again increased its emergency
funding for Greek banks after anxious savers withdrew more than €4bn in
recent days.
Greek PM Alexis Tsipras, who has ruled out pension
cuts, higher power rates, and an excessive budget surplus, said he hoped
Greece would "return to growth within the eurozone".
He met the
heads of Greece's three international creditors in Brussels, ahead of
his talks with the leaders of 18 other eurozone nations later on Monday.
'Broad and comprehensive'
But
eurozone finance ministers said they were not given enough time to
study them for a proper assessment, amid confusion over different
versions of the Greek proposals submitted.
Speaking after the
meeting, Mr Dijsselbloem described the proposals as "broad and
comprehensive", but said work was needed to check they added up "in
fiscal terms".
One of the key power-brokers, European Commission
chief Jean-Claude Juncker, told reporters his goal was to find an
agreement "by the end of the week".
Earlier, Germany's Wolfgang Schaeuble told reporters he had not seen
anything new from Greece so far and "without anything new, there is
nothing for the ministers to prepare for their leaders". The Irish and
Finnish finance ministers echoed the sentiment.
News of a possible
breakthrough gave a boost to European stock markets, with Greece's main
stock exchange jumping 9% by the end of trading on Monday.
The
deadline for Greece to pay back a slice of its loan is 30 June, but a
last-minute deal would make it difficult to arrange the logistics of
transferring the money.
A separate European Council summit is scheduled for Thursday and Friday, and its agenda is packed.
Greek debt talks: Main sticking points
Greece will not accept cuts to pension
payments or public sector wages, saying two-thirds of pensioners are
either below or near the poverty line
International creditors want pension
spending cut by 1% of GDP - it accounts for 16% of Greek GDP. They say
they want to target early retirement, not lower-income pensioners
EU officials say Greece has agreed to
budget surplus targets of 1% of GDP this year, followed by 2% in 2016
and 3.5% by 2018; Greece says nothing is agreed until everything is
agreed
Creditors also want a wider VAT base; Greece says it will not allow extra VAT on medicines or electricity bills
Greece complains creditors focus on
increasing taxes instead of cracking down on tax evasion; IMF is
concerned Athens is not offering credible reforms
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