And to Greece where senior European officials are voicing optimism that tortuous negotiations over the country’s long-stalled bailout programme are on the verge of being wrapped up. From Athens our correspondent Helena Smith reports:

The remarks were echoed by prime minister Alexis Tsipras who used the opening this afternoon of a new stretch of motorway between Athens and Thessaloniki in the north to say completion of an all-conclusive deal was imminent. The review is key to disbursement of €7.5bn in fresh loans needed to repay maturing debt in July - crucial to Europe averting a new Greek crisis.

In Berlin, Brussels and Athens senior officials, including the German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble, are expressing optimism that talks over the latest compliance review between Greece and its creditors can finally be concluded. Schäuble said he was upbeat an agreement would soon be reached. Whether it could be clinched at tomorrow’s eurogroup meeting of finance ministers, however, remained to be seen, he added.

“Whether some want it or not, the completion of the review is very near,” he told an assembled gathering of notaries including the EU’s commissioner for regional policy Corina Cretu. “Greece will finally attain an all-conclusive agreement which will open the way for its exit from [bailout] programmes of economic stewardship. Despite the naysayers it will regain the power to stand on its own feet.”

The agreement, he said, would not only bring interminable negotiations to an end but include the “necessary measures” Greece needs to reduce its unmanageable debt burden – at 180% of GDP the highest in the EU. The delivery of the long-awaited motorway was symbolic in that it sent out the message that “yes, we can do it, and we will do it. We are determined to get the country out of crisis and no one, in the end, will manage to prevent us.”

The much-delayed review has cost Greece dearly. In the uncertainty banks have again reported a massive flight of capital since January with major investments also being put on hold. The German chancellor Angela Merkel is reported to have also intervened, calling Tsipras personally on Wednesday after he upped the ante and called for an emergency meeting of EU leaders if the review wasn’t wrapped up at Friday’s eurogroup in Malta.