by Our Foreign Desk

GREEK Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras made a last-ditch plea for a debt bailout in Brussels yesterday.

With debt repayments looming tomorrow, Mr Tsipras attended high-level meetings with EU leaders and bureaucrats in an attempt to secure new lines of credit for his cash-strapped government.

The anti-austerity Syriza party leader’s first meeting was with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.

“I will go to … explain to him that, today more than ever, it is necessary for the (creditor) institutions and mainly for the political leadership of Europe to sign up to realism,” Mr Tsipras said before leaving for Brussels.

“We need unity,” he said, speaking of Europe. “I am certain the political leadership of Europe will do what it must.”

Syriza won a snap election in January on a promise to oppose swingeing austerity cuts demanded by international creditors that have impoverished ordinary Greeks, but the government has come under pressure to renege on that pledge during debt negotiations.

Top eurozone financial official Jeroen Dijsselbloem was also going to Brussels for the meeting, an official said.

A planned teleconference between Mr Tsipras, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande was put back to today, German Finance Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger said. European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas dispelled hopes of a quick deal, saying: “This is a first discussion, not a concluding one.”

But the Greek stock market, which has fluctuated in response to developments during weeks of negotiations, rose 4.2 per cent in the afternoon on the hopes of a bailout.Greece needs €7.2 billion (£5.2bn) in rescue loans from creditors if it is to meet its debt repayments this summer.

This month it must repay €1.6bn (£1.2bn) to the IMF, with €300 million (£218m) due tomorrow and more instalments on June 12, 16 and 19.

Defaulting on the loans could lead to a Greek exit from the euro —  dreaded by proponents of the common European currency.

Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos insisted a Grexit was “not on the table, let’s make that very clear,” adding that he was “completely convinced” that a deal would be struck.