Greek PM Alexis Tsipras is expected to make his “political solution” pitch to Eurozone partners-cum creditors in Riga on Thursday evening, on the sidelines of a EU summit in the Latvian capital.

According to sources close to the Greek government, the leftist leader will point to “significant progress” at the Brussels Group (experts’)  level and request a deal to free up an urgently needed bailout tranche be reached by the end of the month.

Athens reportedly wants an agreement that will cover its financing needs in the medium term, and not just over the three upcoming summer months, when billions in payments to bondholders and the IMF are due.

Tsipras will make his case to German Chanceller Angela Merkel and France President Francoise Hollande after the official leaders’ dinner. He sat down with the two European leaders just before 21.00 GMT.

One indication that Tsipras’ arguments are swaying Europe’s paymasters is if an extraordinary Eurogroup meeting is called for next week, which would point to the venue for approving any agreement. According information gained by Proto Thema, a meeting between Tsipras, Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and ECB President Mario Draghi will be scheduled late next week in Brussels.

The government, meanwhile, was denying that it is asking for a four-month extension.

Creditors want Athens to “turn the screws” on supplementary pensions allocated by anemic funds and to continue labour market liberalization in the once-sclerotic local sector — which in this case means an easier regime for mass-layoffs of restructuring companies.

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Earlier, the SYRIZA government’s PR machine released photographs of Tsipras and the Greek delegation travelling to Riga in a … C-130 military transport, given that none of the three executive jets still owned by recession-plagued Greece were operational.

ND

Meanwhile, main opposition New Democracy (ND) leader Antonis Samaras, who was already in Riga for an EPP summit, said an agreement must be achieved to guarantee the country’s economic recovery.
“In other words, an agreement that will safeguard reforms and continue privatizations,” he said, before warning SYRIZA not to try and re-establish the bankrupt and massive state at the expense of the private econony through crippling taxes.