Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela merkel are meeting at 3.30 p.m. (Greek time) on Thursday, within the framework of the European Summit scheduled to take place in Brussels. Their talk is taking place on the sidelines of the emergency summit being held to discuss Sunday’s tragic events in the Mediterranean following the capsizion of a boat carrying illegal immigrants.

The meeting between the two leaders is the second this month, at a time when negotiations are escalating between Greece and its international creditors. There is speculation as to whether this meeting will be able to give talks the impetus required for convergence that could lead to a deal between the two sides. 

The Greek side is optimistic that talks are continuing towards finding a solution and is confident that there may be a partial release of a tranche benchmarked for Greece by the end of April or start of May.

Athens still believes that “political compromise is the only realistic solution” and hopes for more political discussions and less contact with the technical representatives of its creditors. A government source confirmed that there was expectation that the Greek-German leaders meeting would help in negotiations.

Government Spokesman Gavriil Sakellaridis stated that the Greek prime minister would maintain his standard line at Thursday’s meeting with Merkel, with a focus towards finding a mutually beneficial solution. “We need to find a quick soluion. They can’t draw out (the process for) a solution and then blame Greece for delays,” he said.