European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was to mediate again ahead of Thursday's Eurogroup meeting between Greece and its international lenders in another bid to strike a debt deal to avert a Greek financial collapse and Grexit, Greek media reported on Wednesday.
Following an unprecedented verbal war between Brussels and Athens after the collapse of negotiations in the Belgian capital last weekend, Juncker was expected to present to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras over phone in coming hours a revised draft deal, according to Greek financial news portal "euro2day.gr" which cited sources in Athens and Brussels.
Juncker has assumed the role of the mediator several times lately as the five month deliberations over the package of fiscal adjustment measures ad reforms in return of cash have not produced results and time was running out.
On June 30, the extension of the bailout the two sides agreed to in February in order to work on the formula of their future collaboration, expires.
Without a deal by then Athens has warned that it may not cover a 1.5 billion euro loan installment payment to International Monetary Fund, triggering the process to default and a possible exit from eurozone.
According to the media report, Juncker will propose amendments to the European Commission's latest draft proposal and a delay in the implementation of some structural reforms in return of concrete fast results in other areas from Athens in a final bid to reach a compromise on time.
The alternatives to initially suggested harsh pension reforms and VAT (value-added tax) hikes could be about 500 million euro annual cuts on defense expenses and the reduction of high supplementary pensions.
In addition, according to the report, Brussels requested swift results in the combating of cartels in the market and an end to early retirement in order to accept the postponement of reforms in the labor market.
If Athens accepts the updated draft, submits counter proposals and dialogue results in a deal in coming days, Greece might win a promise by creditors to address the debt relief issue in a second stage of negotiations, according to the sources.
Greek government sources told Xinhua that Greece was ready for further concessions in order to strike a "viable" agreement, but stressed the need for a clear response to the debt load issue.
Should talks fail this June, the possibility of imposing capital controls in Greece this summer exists, according to "euro2day.gr".
On Tuesday Juncker openly accused the Greek government of distorting his stance in the previous round of negotiations in recent days, while Greek cabinet ministers counter attacked, claiming that the other side was not honest to the European public opinion
