''We will have a useful discussion that will confirm the progress made, and it will surely be another step towards a final agreement,'' Fin Min Yanis Varoufakis said after his meeting with EU Commissioner Pierre Moscovici. '
'We have had constructive discussions paving the way to a positive Eurogroup meeting that aims to further strengthen the common ground reached in the Brussels Group,'' he added, noting that this is why ''the important thing is that the progress is consolidated and take Greece towards a situation in which we can all look towards new agreements with institutions and our partners, in order to get past the liquidity difficulties that - as we all know - Greece is experiencing.''
Earlier, Moscovici had warned the eurozone would not even begin to discuss longer-term funding and ways to reduce Greece's debt until Athens had agreed a "consistent, detailed, complete" economic reform programme with its creditors.
His comments appeared to slam the door on Greek hopes of bypassing an interim deal and moving directly to a comprehensive debt relief agreement by the end of June.
As a goodwill gesture, a senior privatization official said Athens was ready to finalize a 1.2 billion euro deal with German operator Fraport to run regional airports and to reopen bidding for a majority stake in the port of Piraeus.
In a statement, a Greek government official said Athens had made "significant concessions" but that "serious disagreements between IMF and the EU" were blocking the negotiations and complained the two lenders had set contradictory "red lines". "Against this background, there cannot be a compromise," the official said.
The statement appeared intended to shift the blame for slow progress in talks onto the lenders and show Greeks their government was taking steps to reach a deal. Recent polls have shown Greeks overwhelmingly want Tsipras to agree a compromise to avoid financial chaos.
Varoufakis will be in Rome on Wednesday to meet with his Italian counterpart, Pier Carlo Padoan.
The meeting will follow on the heels of other meetings in European capitals. On Tuesday Varoufakis met with his French finance minister Michel Sapin and will at 7 PM be meeting with Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron. On Friday, he will then meet with his Spanish counterpart Luis De Guindos at 2 PM.
Deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragasakis, meanwhile, met ECB President Mario Draghi in Frankfurt, a day before ECB policymakers hold their weekly review of emergency lending assistance (ELA) to Greek banks.
The ECB said in a statement that they reviewed Greece's economic situation and the state of negotiations in Brussels, but it gave no further details.
Athens wants the ECB to increase the liquidity lifeline and permit the banks to buy more short-term treasury bills, easing the government's immediate funding crunch. Greece has already commandeered cash reserves from municipalities and government bodies as it scrapes together funds to repay 970 million euros to the IMF by May 12.
But eurozone central bank sources say hardliners led by Germany's Bundesbank want the "haircut" on Greek securities offered as collateral for the funding to be increased following recent credit rating downgrades of Greece and its banks.
One such source said he did not expect the council to make a dramatic change that would put Greek banks in immediate difficulty while negotiations are continuing.
Source: Reuters
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