Greece, creditors close to conclusion of bailout review: EU's Tusk

European Council President Donald Tusk appeared cautiously optimistic about the conclusion of the pending review of Greece's third bailout program soon during a visit here on Wednesday.

"I really feel that we are very close to the conclusion of this phase of the procedure. And I believe that this grand finale will come thanks to the determination of the Greek people and their sacrifices," Tusk said during a meeting with Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

"Today I feel more optimistic than yesterday and I hope tomorrow we both will be more optimistic," Tusk repeated during his talks with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

According to the initial timetable, the assessment should have closed in February 2016.

Tusk cautioned that "We are still far away from talking about a success story in the Greek economy."

For his part, Pavlopoulos noted the big sacrifices made by Greek people in order to stick to the European course.

"We cannot consider our future outside the European Union and its hard core, the euro zone," the Greek president said, underlining the need of change for Greece and the EU.

"The European Union must become strong and attractive, proving wrong those who rushed to leave it," Pavlopoulos said referring to Brexit, which was also on the agenda of discussions.

According to the prime minister's office, Tsipras told Tusk that "it is of vital significance to make important decisions to guarantee stability and unity" considering the pledges made recently during the Rome summit on the future of the EU.

"All member states need to assume their responsibilities in order to keep Europe united and safe," the Greek leader underlined, noting that this is the only way to leave the crises behind.

Regarding the refugee crisis, Tsipras said that all sides should work hard to keep alive last year's EU-Turkey agreement aimed at stemming the refugee influx into Europe. Endit