EU welcomes 11th-hour Greek proposals in 'forceps delivery'

EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker's chief-of-staff spoke of a "forceps delivery" as officials worked late into the night to produce a deal ahead of a summit of euro zone leaders in Brussels that they hope can keep Greece in the currency bloc.

After four months of wrangling and with anxious depositors pulling billions of euros out of Greek banks, Tsipras's leftist government showed a new willingness at the weekend to make concessions that would unlock frozen aid to avert default.

It was not immediately clear how far the new proposal yielded to creditors' demands for additional spending cuts and tax hikes, but the offer was a ray of hope that a last-minute deal may yet be wrangled before Athens runs out of cash.

Tsipras spent much of June 21 holed up in a marathon cabinet meeting and discussed the new offer with the leaders of Germany, France and the European Commission by phone.

"The prime minister presented the three leaders Greece's proposal for a mutually beneficial agreement that will give a definitive solution and not a postponement of addressing the problem," a statement from Tsipras's office said.

He will meet European Commission President Juncker, ECB President Mario Draghi, IMF head Christine Lagarde and euro zone finance ministers chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem at 11 a.m. (5:00 a.m. ET), an EU spokeswoman said. Euro zone finance ministers are due to meet 90 minutes later and a summit of euro zone prime ministers and presidents is scheduled at 7 p.m. (1:00 p.m. ET).

US stock futures jumped in early Asian trade on June 22 on hopes for a deal. The euro also ticked up against the dollar.

European ministers have played down the prospect of a final agreement on June 22 but hope a political understanding can be reached in time for a full deal by the end of June.