The eurozone has received new bailout reform plans from Greece, a spokesman for Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem said Thursday, less than two hours ahead of a midnight deadline.
"New Greek proposals received by #Eurogroup president @J_Dijsselbloem. Important for institutions to consider these in their assessment," said spokesman Michel Reijns in a tweet.
Greece's government has agreed to longstanding demands by creditors to impose sweeping sales tax hikes and cuts in state spending for pensions.
In the text of proposals sent by Athens, and seen by The Associated Press, the government concedes to demands it had previously resisted, mostly on moving various categories of goods and services to higher sales tax rates.
Greece is seeking 53.5 billion euros ($59 billion) as part of a new bailout package, according to draft legislation submitted to parliament early Friday.
Under the proposal, Athens would receive the loans from the eurozone bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, or ESM.
Greece's left-wing government has sent eurozone creditors a proposed new austerity package. The government says Greece's parliament will vote on the proposals late Friday before an emergency summit Sunday by European leaders.
The proposals were sent in a last-ditch effort to reach a deal with rescue lenders after the country's previous program expired and missed repayments to the International Monetary Fund, and Greece was forced to close banks to prevent their collapse under the weight of mass withdrawals.
Leaders of the 19-country single currency area gave Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras the deadline at an emergency summit on Tuesday, warning that failure to comply risked Greece's place in the euro.
Greeks overwhelmingly voted in a referendum on Sunday to reject previous austerity demands from international creditors in exchange for a new aid programme to replace the one that expired on June 30.
The cash strapped country needs money to reopen its banks which have been closed for nearly two weeks, and eurozone leaders have warned that the European Central Bank will cut emergency funding if it does not reach a new deal.
The new reform proposals will now be scrutinised by officials from Greece's EU-IMF creditors, before going before eurozone finance ministers on Saturday and a full summit of all 28 European Union leaders on Sunday.
"The (creditor) institutions will examine them to give their view to the Eurogroup," a European source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"They also need these proposals to determine the size of the bailout programme -- that will also depend upon broader economic scenarios," the source said.
Greece's application letter on Wednesday to the eurozone's bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, called for a three-year programme but did not say how much money was needed.
