Leaders push for deal as creditors await revised Greek proposals

Representatives of Greece?s creditors were on Monday awaiting revised proposals from Athens as international pressure mounted for a reform deal, with US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel pushing for swift action to clinch an agreement.

In comments at the end of a G7 summit in Germany, Obama referred to a ?sense of urgency? to break the deadlock. ?What it?s going to require is Greece being serious about making some important reforms,? he said. He added that Greeks will ?have to make some tough political choices that will be good for the long term.?

Merkel focused on the ticking clock. ?There?s not much time left,? she said. ?We have to work very hard on this.?

Greece was expected to submit an updated version of its proposed reforms late on Monday night. A delegation of Greek officials, including the negotiations coordinator Euclid Tsakalotos and State Minister Nikos Pappas, were in Brussels on Monday in a bid to ?investigate the scope for convergence? with creditors and to negotiate possible changes to the proposals submitted by Athens last week, government spokesman Gavriil Sakellaridis told reporters.

Greece?s new proposal is expected to come under scrutiny from European officials on Tuesday. According to sources, Athens has adopted some of the fiscal measures proposed by creditors and has amended its proposal on value-added tax reform, insisting on three rates, but increasing them to 7, 12 and 23 percent. As regards the issue of the primary surplus, Athens is willing to shift closer to the creditors? proposed target of 1 percent from its goal of 0.6 percent, sources said. Athens is also said to have sought alternative measures to avoid raising VAT on the islands. Another possible measure is increasing...