EU President Donald Tusk said new reform offers made by the leftist Greek government ahead of a crunch summit aimed at sealing a debt deal are the first genuine step forward by Athens for weeks.

"The latest Greek proposals are the first real proposals in many weeks although they still need, it's obvious for me, the assessment of the (creditor) institutions and further work, of course," Tusk told reporters.

"But the most important thing is that the leaders take full responsibility for the political process to avoid the worst case scenario, which means uncontrollable, chaotic 'Grexident'," he said, using a term for an accidental Greek exit from the single euro currency.

Former Polish premier Tusk called the emergency summit of the 19 eurozone leaders last Friday after talks between finance ministers from the currency union broke down without a deal on Greece's bailout.

The head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, welcomed the Greek proposals earlier Monday and said they were an "opportunity" for a deal later this week.
Source: AFP