The European Parliament president has expressed optimism over reaching agreements between Greece and Brussels on the bailout.

Martin Schulz is the first EU official to visit Athens since Alex Tsipras’ stormed to power, promising to rollback austerity measures imposed as part of the EU-IMF bailout.

Following a meeting between the two, Schulz said that the fears that Greece would follow its own course were unfounded.

“The Tsipras government is thinking about making proposals and is willing to discuss them by finding solutions with their partners. I think that this is a very positive message.” He also saluted Tsipras’ commitment to fighting tax fraud.

Tsipras’ added that both the EU and Greece are working towards a common goal,
aiming for “a return to development, a return to employment, a return of social cohesion to Greece.” He insisted that there would be “careful” negotiations.

The comments came ahead of a meeting with eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem on Friday, which