The European Commission said Sunday that weekend talks to find common ground between international creditors and Greece were unsuccessful, leaving a wide rift that needs to be closed within two weeks to avoid a possible Greek default.
An European Union Commission official, who refused to be identified because of the sensitivity of the negotiations, said that "the talks did not succeed as there remains a significant gap between the plans of the Greek authorities and" the demands of the international creditors.
On top of that, the official said that, for the EU's executive, "the Greek proposals remain incomplete." The official refused to be more precise.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker "remains convinced that with stronger reform efforts on the Greek side and political will on all sides, a solution can still be found before the end of the month," the official said.
Finance ministers from the 19 nations using the euro currency have a meeting next Thursday in Luxembourg which has already been billed as decisive to see if a bailout deal for Greece can be found.
The rift after the weekend's talks amounted to "the order of 0.5-1% of GDP," the EU official said.
Greek Deputy Prime Minishter Yannis Dragasakis said disagreements remained over the cuts in pensions and increases in value added tax.
However, he said Greece has made "supplementary proposals that totally cover the fiscal gap and primary surpluses" and open "the way to a final deal."
Greece's 240 billion-euro ($270-billion U.S.) bailout expires June 30, at which point the country will lose access to the rescue loans it desperately needs to repay debts and avoid a default that could force it out of the euro.
The country's creditors — which include fellow euro-zone states, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — want the country to commit to new economic reforms before they disburse the last 7.2 billion euros ($8.2 billion U.S.) left in Greece's bailout fund.
Fears that the two sides were still too far apart to clinch a deal on such issues as pensions and the budget already saw the main stock index in Athens close 5.9% lower on Friday.
