Greek MPs are to vote later on whether to back PM Alexis Tsipras's tough new proposals to secure a third bailout.
The proposals are aimed at staving off financial collapse and preventing a possible exit from the eurozone.
Eurozone
finance ministers will examine the new proposals, which include pension
cuts and tax rises, ahead of a full EU summit on Sunday.
Correspondents say Mr Tsipras's new plan contains many elements rejected in a referendum last Sunday.
He is likely to face opposition from the left of his own Syriza party.
However,
a parliamentary spokesman for Syriza, Nikos Filis, said he was
confident parliament would give the government the mandate to negotiate
the new bailout package.
The coalition government has 162 seats in the 300-strong parliament and also has the backing of many opposition MPs. Analysis: BBC's Mark Lowen in Athens
Greece's
parliament is likely to give approval to negotiate the deal, because
support from the opposition will outweigh critics on the far left of the
governing Syriza party.
But with the tax hikes and pension
reforms very similar to what the creditors were originally demanding,
what has Alexis Tsipras achieved by holding last Sunday's referendum?
Possibly
some concessions on debt relief and growth measures - or possibly by
showing Greeks that he was fighting until the 11th-hour, it will
strengthen his hand here and allow him to implement the reforms.
There
will, though, be plenty of critics who say he was elected because he
promised to end austerity and he won a "No" vote just last Sunday. And
now he's gone back on virtually every pledge. Chris Morris: Pressure on eurozone Crisis triggers memories of World War Two Angela Merkel under pressure over Greek bailout deal All Greek to you? Debt jargon explained Mr Tsipras convened a meeting of Syriza ahead of the parliamentary debate.
A
government official quoted him as telling the party's lawmakers that
the referendum had given him a mandate to seek a better deal but not to
leave the eurozone.
"We are all in this together," he was quoted as saying.
The
prime minister submitted the proposals to Greece's creditors - the
European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International
Monetary Fund - by the Thursday deadline they had set. According to Greek media reports, the measures submitted include:
tax rise on shipping companies
unifying VAT rates at standard 23%, including restaurants and catering
phasing out solidarity grant for pensioners by 2019
€300m ($332m; £216m) defence spending cuts by 2016
privatisation of ports and sell-off of remaining shares in telecoms giant OTE
Media captionCatharina Moh reports: ''Greece's reform package will now be scrutinised by experts''
Humiliation?
Energy
Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis on Thursday urged the government not to
agree to a bailout that would "surrender, loot and subjugate our
people".
He said the "No" vote in last Sunday's referendum, when
Greeks rejected creditors' terms for a new bailout, should not be turned
into a "humiliating 'Yes'".
Further rallies are planned in Athens on Friday, both backing and opposing the terms of a new bailout.
There has been no immediate response to the new proposals from the creditors.
However, Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who on Tuesday was highly critical of Greece's failure to provide new plans, tweeted: "At first glance, Greece proposals provide a basis for discussion."
The
plans will be discussed at technical level on Friday, before a meeting
of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels on Saturday. There will then
be a meeting of Eurogroup leaders on Sunday afternoon and a full EU
summit two hours later.
Greece in numbers
€320bn
Greece's debt mountain
€240bn
European bailout
177% country's debt-to-GDP ratio
25% fall in GDP since 2010
26% Greek unemployment rate
Reuters
European Council President Donald Tusk has described the situation as "maybe the most critical moment" in EU history.
Greece's creditors have already provided more than €200bn in two bailouts since a rescue plan began five years ago.
The second bailout expired on 30 June.
For the third bailout, Greece is reportedly seeking €53.5bn and a restructuring of its huge debt burden.
Greece's
banks are still closed and the €60 (£43; $66) daily limit on cash
machine withdrawals, imposed on 28 June, remains in force.
Crisis countdown
10 July: Greek parliament vote. ECB, EU and IMF discuss proposals at technical level
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