Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras late on Thursday expressed cautious optimism over reaching an agreement with lenders, possibly even next Monday at the Eurogroup meeting.

"This plaque is the least I take with me form here. I can feel only joy and emotion for all this reception I reserved. "With these words, the Greek ace of the Houston Rockets, Kostas Papanikolaou, expressed intense feelings immediately after receiving the honorary plaque from the President for Business Operations of the Sacramento Kings, Matina Kolokotronis, at the event held by the Hellenic Basketball Federation at the Greek Consulate General, in New York.

“Now is the time to change the policy mix and move forward to those reforms that up until yesterday the previous governments did not have the political will to advance,” Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday said after a “very constructive” meeting with Belgium premier Charles Michel in Brussels.