Talks between Greece and its international creditors (European Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund) ended in failure on Sunday, sending Greece stumbling closer towards a Grexit. Greece and creditors have been negotiating for months on reforms needed to release 7.2 billion euros in bailout aid benchmarked for Greece.

Creditors, however, said that measures proposed by Greece are not enough to meet the demands of creditors. EU officials believe that Greece’s proposed reforms are incomplete.

A tersely worded statement by the EC on Sunday said:

“(EC) President (Jean-Claude) Juncker made a last attempt this weekend to find, via personal representatives and in close liaison with Commission, ECB and IMF experts, a solution with Prime Minister Tsipras that would allow for a positive assessment in time for the Eurogroup on Thursday, June 18.

While some progress was made, the talks did not succeed as there remains a significant gap between the plans of the Greek authorities and the joint requirements of Commission, ECB and IMF in the order of 0.5-1 of the GDP, or the equivalent of up to 2 bln euros of permanent fiscal measures on an annual basis.

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In addition, the Greek proposals remain incomplete. On this basis, further discussion will now have to take place in the Eurogroup.”

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told Germany’s tabloid Bild that debt relief was the only way in which Greece could pay back as much of its debt as possible. In June, Greece needs to repay 1.6 billion euros to the IMF but the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government is not willing to cave in to creditors demands for more pension and wage cuts in the belief that these are already so low that a new humanitarian crisis would follow.

Deputy Prime Minister Yiannis Dragasakis blamed foreign creditors for the stalemate as they insisted on pension cuts and increases in VAT worth as much as 1% of the GDP to close the fiscal gap. Athens believes that these goals are unattainable after five years of crushing austerity. Dragasakis released a statement: “Despite the presence of the Greek delegation in Brussels, there was no response on the part of the institutions for discussions at the same level or authorization that would permit a solution to the issues that remain open.”