European officials are offering a positive response to Greece's reform proposals - German finance minister, Wolfgang has asked German MPs to back Greece’s bailout extension.
The minister's letter to the Bundestag has surfaced in the German media - it says:
"The Federal government advocates the proposed extension, against the background of Greece’s acknowledgment of its commitments and the agreement in the Eurogroup."
Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem has said that Greece's reform proposals were in his inbox at 23:15 last night - 45 minutes before the midnight deadline.
He has announced the euro zone finance ministers will have a conference call at 13:00 GMT.
#Eurogroup conference call on Greece at 14.00 this afternoon.
— Jeroen Dijsselbloem (@J_Dijsselbloem) February 24, 2015
The proposals are reported to detail plans to raise some €2.5bn by tackling tax evasion, corruption and smuggling.
Reuters report that Greece will not reverse its stance on ongoing or completed privatizations - and that its efforts to ease austerity for the average Greek citizen will not "hurt" its budget (this is presumably a commitment to running a surplus).
These measures include a commitment to spending more than €750m on a programme of meal subsidies for struggling Greeks - and to spend €60m on free electricity.
It also reports that the submission contains a pledge to review every area of public spending - and a commitment to cut incentives for early retirement.
The news agency is also reporting that Athens will reform its public sector wage grid - it will not reduce wages - but it will make sure that the public wage bill does not rise.
It also hopes to raise the minimum wage over time - but that would be subject to approval by the Troika.
Addressing the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary, Mr Dijsselbloem has held up Ireland as blueprint for other struggling euro zone country's to follow - he says that the country is making "strong progress on all fronts."
He refused to offer his assessment of the Greek proposals - he just said that this is “just a first step” in a long process. He did however rule out any possibility of Greece leaving the euro.
He added that the Greece has offered "unequivocal commitments to honour its financial obligations."
