Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will confront European leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel at his first EU summit, after his government failed to secure a deal on renegotiating its huge bailout.
Tsipras warned ahead of the Brussels summit that the EU was now at a "turning point" following the breakdown of talks on the Greek debt crisis between eurozone finance ministers on Wednesday night.
The start of the summit on Thursday was delayed a few hours after Merkel and French President Francois Hollande stayed through the night in the Belarussian capital to seal a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the Ukraine conflict.
Tsipras will try to persuade the other 27 European Union leaders to back an austerity-lite replacement plan for Greece's 240 billion euro ($A351.73 billion) EU-IMF bailout, which expires at the end of February.
"We are at a crucial turning point for Europe," Tsipras said after meeting Belgian premier Charles Michel.
"We have to prove that Europe can find a solution, respect the positions that the parties take, and combine respect for democracy with European rules."
Economic powerhouse Germany is the stiffest opponent of the plans unveiled by the new government in Athens, formed by Tsipras after his hard-left Syriza party won an election in January on the back of huge popular discontent with years of austerity.
Greek Finance Minister Yaris Varoufakis failed to seal an agreement in tense talks with his counterparts in the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers on Wednesday night, with a make-or-break meeting set for on Monday.
Failure to reach a deal on an extension of the bailout or a credit line for Greece by the end of February means Athens would default and almost inevitably crash out of the eurozone.
The euro dipped in Asian trade on Thursday after the Eurogroup talks broke up without agreement but Greek stocks were up 4.01 per cent, after closing down over 4.0 per cent on Wednesday.
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