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Prime minister Tsipras told the leading figures in the negotiating group to urgently meet with European representatives.

The aim is to overcome the stalemate and achieve the best possible result for the liquidity problems blighting the country.

Yesterday was marked by the dramatic non-paper of the government on disagreements between creditors (the IMF and the European Commission) as well as by the optimistic statement of Yiannis Dragasakis after his meeting with ECB’s Mario Draghi.

"Reaching an agreement is a realistic goal," said the Deputy Prime Minister. According to reports, he had a constructive discussion with Mario Draghi, with a focus on the state of Greek economy and the progress of negotiations.

All eyes towards the ECB meeting

Given the unclear outcome of negotiations, all eyes are now turned towards the crucial meeting of the ECB’s Governing Council. It will moot the conditions for providing liquidity to Greek banks via the emergency liquidity mechanism (ELA). The ECB’s opinion is still unknown and no one can predict it with certainty.

Varoufakis’ talks with counterparts continue

Meanwhile, what Yiannis Varoufakis expects of the May 11 Eurogroup meeting is progress but no final agreement. The Greek finance minister will talk tête-à-tête with Commissioner Pierre Moscovici.

Apart from negotiations, the agenda reportedly includes questions about the period ‘after June’. The aim is to have a new agreement whereby Athens will enhance the likelihood of a debt settlement and will provide answers as to how it intends to cover any possible budget or financing deficits.

Today Varoufakis is in Rome, where he will meet with Italian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan, while on Friday he will meet Spanish Finance Minister Luis de Guindos.

Against this backdrop, SYRIZA’s Political Secretariat members have again revisited the referendum issue, thus messing up even further the already overcrowded negotiation stage.

"We want the people to participate in events that concern it, the country’s present and future both depend on it," reads the party’s statement. SYRIZA members have commented that the party’s so-called ‘red lines’ in the negotiations epitomise a defence tactic whereas an attack is now necessary.

The Secretariat meeting will continue on Friday, and an extraordinary meeting of the central committee next week is also in the cards. At it, Alexis Tsipras will try to get the green light for the agreement.