ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greece finally met a deadline that counted on Thursday and made a series of sweeping proposals that its creditors needed by midnight to set off a mad rush toward a weekend deal to stave off a financial collapse of the nation.

The package met longstanding demands by creditors to impose wide-ranging sales-tax hikes and cuts in state spending for pensions that the left-leaning Greek government had long resisted.

It raised hopes that Greece can get the rescue deal that will prevent a catastrophic exit from the euro after key creditors said they were open to discussing how to ease the country's debt load, a long-time sticking point in their talks.

In the text of proposals sent by Athens late Thursday, the government conceded to demands it had previously refused to accept - mostly on moving various categories of goods and services to higher sales tax rates.

After months of foot-dragging despite impending chaos, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met a midnight deadline with more than an hour to spare. The spokesman for eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem tweeted that it was "important for institutions to consider these (proposals) in their assessment" of the Greek situation.

Finance officials from the European institutions and the International Monetary Fund were to fine-comb through the proposals on Friday before the 19 eurozone finance ministers assess them on Saturday.

In ideal circumstances, a summit of the European Union's 28 members would be able to approve them on Sunday.

While creditors are now assessing whether Greece will offer the full range of economic measures they have asked for, Donald Tusk, who chairs the EU summits, indicated that European officials would make an effort to address Greece's key request for debt relief.

"The realistic proposal from Greece will have to be matched by an equally realistic proposal on debt sustainability from the creditors. Only then will we have a win-win situation," Tusk said.

David Fuller's view

Well well!  You could not write a script like this, although I am sure wannabe authors are hurriedly taking up the challenge.

The extreme leftwing Syriza Party would not support this agreement but there should be enough cross-party votes to carry it in the Greek parliament.  Assuming the proposal is credible and passes muster, Greece’s creditors will most likely lower interest dates and extend repayment dates on bailout loans, which will increase, well beyond the middle of this century.