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European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis expressed optimism Friday that a meeting of euro area finance ministers in Malta will produce a breakthrough in Greece's months-long bailout talks with creditors.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Dombrovskis said he expected good progress in talks with Greece that will enable the return of the institutions to Athens.

In a bid to restore some calm and restraint after a particularly tense week in negotiations between Greece and its foreign creditors that were reminiscent of the summer of 2015, European Union Commissioner for the Euro Valdis Dombrovskis speaks to Kathimerini about where things stand now.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, leader of Greece’s major opposition party New Democracy (ND) presented his plans for Greece to exit the current economic crisis during a series of contacts in Brussels with European officials on the sidelines of the EU Summit. Mr.

Greece and its EU-IMF creditors will reach a deal to release the next tranche of its 86-billion-euro bailout "in the coming days," said a senior EU official on Monday after talks in Brussels.

European Commission Vice-President and Commissioner of Euro matters Valdis Dombrovskis revealed that Greece and its lenders were close to reaching a deal ‘on principle’, responding to a question asked by protothema.gr in Brussels.

In an interview rot Wall Street Journal (WSJ), European Commissioner for the Euro Valdis Dombrovskis said that an agreement with a successful review of the Greek program was feasible within the next weeks. Dombrovskis pointed out the Commission had not set a deadline for an agreement. ‘It really is about the substance’, he underlined.

“Greece was very close in completing its bailout program in 2014, but the new Greek government chose different paths” said European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis in an interview with capital.gr.

European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said Greece has to fulfill its financial obligations by passing all the prerequisite economic measures outlined in the agreed bailout plan, despite the refugee crisis. Dombrovskis called on the Greek government to push forward with reforms in the pensions, taxation and privatisations in order to allow the assessment to be completed.

Volkan Bozk?r, Turkey's EU minister and its chief negotiator with the bloc, has warned the EU that a delay in the delivery of migration funds worth 3 billion euros to Turkey would also cause a delay in implementing more effective measures to handle refugees in the country.

Vice President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis did not rule out the possibility of delaying the Greek program’s evaluation till mid-February in an interview with German MNI agency and Euro2day.