Finance Minister Edward Scicluna this afternoon expressed disappointment that a delay by Greece in the submission of fresh proposal to break the stalemate over its debt problems meant that no draft agreement could be reached prior to the start of this evening’s meetingof EU leaders.

However he did not subscribe to the idea that the whole point of these talks had been a complete failure.

The finance minister said that fact that EU leaders would be discussing the Greek crisis was positive in itself.

Sources said there was anger among finance ministers in Brussels for the fact that the Greek government had not gone far enough to come up with decent proposals on time.

Its failure meant that the Greek crisis might also dominate another EU summit, due on Thursday, and the leaders, therefore might not have time to tacke other issues such as migration.

“We are in for a game of snakes and ladders,” Prof Scicluna told the Maltese media soon after  a finance ministers' meeting. He also pointed out that the Greek crisis was more often than not a case of “two steps forward one step back”.

The finance minister said that Greece was supposed to present its proposals by midnight on Sunday, but this morning presented revised proposals thus delaying talks.

Asked whether patience with the Greeks was running out, and whether it was worth injecting more money into the Greek economy, he said that this was ultimately a political decision.

Sources said the Greek proposal includes a gradual raise in retirement age to 67 and a streamlining of  various exceptions to the system. On average Greek men now retire at 63 and women at 59, according to government data.

The offer also sets the main rate of Value Added Tax (VAT) at 23 percent, with a reduced rate of 13 percent for energy and basic foods and an exceptional rate of 6 percent only for medicine and books.