Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras says his government cannot accept "irrational" proposals like one made this week by the institutions overseeing Greece's bailout, and insisted any solution must include some form of debt relief.

Addressing an emergency session of parliament, Mr Tsipras said he was "unpleasantly surprised" by the proposal put forward by the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Commission during his visit to Brussels for talks with EC head Jean-Claude Juncker.

Mr Tsipras's speech comes the morning after his government announced it would not pay an IMF debt repayment due today, and would instead bundle all four instalments due in June into one payment at the end of the month.

Although allowed under IMF rules, the option is rarely used - the last country to do so was Zambia in the 1980s - and highlighted the brinkmanship of Greece's negotiations, and the dire state of the country's liquidity.

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