GREEK Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras agreed on Thursday to let his officials talk to the troika functionaries he had previously sworn never to deal with.

The dramatic political climbdown could avoid the new government running out of money as early as next month, if European Union politicians cobble together a package of apparent concessions to spare Mr Tsipras’s blushes.

The main stock market in Athens shot up around 6 per cent in midday trading yesterday as speculators sensed a profit in the government U-turn.

Prime Minister Tsipras, who was attending his first European Union summit, had agreed with eurozone finance ministers’ chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem that Greek officials would meet representatives of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF.

And Greek government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis said that Greece would make every effort to reach agreement with its eurozone partners.

“We will do whatever we can so that a deal is found on Monday,” he said.

However, Mr Sakellaridis still insisted Athens remained opposed to reforms that intensify austerity and weaken the fabric of the state.

The prospects of a deal had improved after European leaders took conciliatory steps at the Brussels summit.

Mr Tsipras said a “mutually acceptable” deal was possible while German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country was ready to compromise.

She told reporters: “Europe always has been geared towards compromises. 

“Compromises are agreed when the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Germany is ready for this.”

But how much Germany’s Chancellor is prepared to offer was still unclear.

Mr Tsipras said that he discussed the possibility of a six-month bridging programme to gain time to work out a programme acceptable to creditors.

Whether that will be acceptable to voters, who elected Syriza on the back of a clear rejection of troika-driven austerity economics, is now the question.

Greece’s economy is around 25 per cent smaller than pre-crisis and poverty and unemployment have grown, with youth unemployment now steadily above 60 per cent.

Further austerity, whether implemented by the right or the left, is unlikely to provide an acceptable future for Greece’s hungry millions.