(Bloomberg) — French President Francois Hollande held out hope of a deal for Greece even as German Chancellor Angela Merkel said negotiations looked to be going backward.

The differing tones from the heads of Europe’s two biggest economies reflected the frustration among leaders and finance ministers after days of talks in Brussels that have failed to yield a breakthrough.

With finance chiefs meeting for their fourth session on Greece in a week, “we don’t yet have the necessary progress,” Merkel told reporters as she arrived for a two-day summit of European Union leaders on Thursday. “One even has the impression that we’ve regressed a bit.”

Differences over pensions, sales-tax rates, debt relief and corporate taxes have left Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s government and his country’s creditors struggling to find common ground before the June 30 expiry of Greece’s euro-area bailout. With no follow-on financing in place, Greece may be unable to make a payment due the same day to the International Monetary Fund.

“European history is full of disagreements, negotiations and then compromises,” Tsipras said in Brussels. “So after the comprehensive Greek proposals, I’m confident that we will reach a compromise that will help the euro zone and Greece to overcome the crisis.”

Hollande said an agreement was “possible and is necessary,” and urged Greece and its creditor institutions — the European Central Bank, the IMF and the European Commission — to reach a conclusion.

“Let me say this: the earlier the better,” Hollande said. “Because when an agreement is possible, when it’s necessary, the accord must come. Not just because it’s useful, but because there is nothing to gain in taking much more time. Greece doesn’t have any left.”