Greece spells out terms for debt crisis 'breakthrough'

Greece is required to repay a €1.6bn (£1.1bn) International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan by the end of the month.

If it does not, it risks crashing out of the single currency and possibly the EU.

Eurozone leaders met on Monday evening to discuss Greece's proposals at an emergency summit in Brussels.

Mr Stathakis earlier told the BBC's Robert Peston he was confident the new proposals to balance the government's books had broken the deadlock with its creditors.

"We [will] try to remove the tax burden from pensions and wages towards business and the wealthy," he said.

He said the proposals also included an increase in the VAT rate for some selected items.