Greece did not manage to reach a deal with its creditors at the latest Eurogroup meeting in Luxembourg, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said this evening.

Speaking to Times of Malta at the end of today’s meeting for Euro zone finance ministers, billed as the final chance to reach a cash-for-reform deal, Prof. Scicluna said that although no deal was reached, the doors for the debate were still open.

Greece owes the International Monetary Fund €1.6 billion by the end of June. It has not been able to reach a deal for austerity measures and pension reform that would satisfy creditors.

During today’s meetings, which included the IMF, the European Central Bank and the European Commission, an account of developments since the last Eurogroup meeting, when agreement was reached with Greeks to carry out further reforms, was given.

It was pointed out that there still existed a gap between what the institutions were proposing and what Greece was willing to accept and this in spite that what the institutions were proposing was a watered down package, Prof. Scicluna said.

He said Greek foreign minister Yanis Varoufakis gave a very good emotional presentation of the situation in Greece, mentioning that wages had dropped by 70 per cent and unemployment was as high as 25 per cent. He insisted that pensions should not be cut as this was the sole income for many families.

Mr Varoufakis said that the situation in Greece had deteriorated further in terms of the outflow of cash from the country which was accelerating by the day to the point that the €7.5 billion Greece was expecting might not even be enough. Prof. Scicluna said this could possibly go up to around €12 billion.

Mr Varoufakis also presented a proposal including for the creation of a fiscal council in Greece, which would include representatives of the institutions to monitor the Greek government’s finances.

However, it was pointed out to him that the meeting was not the place for such a technical proposal.

Prof. Scicluna said nobody wanted to switch off the aid to Greece and the lack of decision today was not of question of postponing it to next week’s leaders’ summit.

The situation was on stand by until the end of June to see whether Greece would default or not. But even if an agreement was reached, Greece would still need to be given an extension.

Asked whether he felt that following today’s meeting, Greece was one step closer to exiting the euro zone, Prof. Scicluna said no, but added that the country seemed to be playing a game of brinkmanship and was ready to take the matter to the very end , at the cost of the situation in Greece deteriorating further.

He said it was his impression, however, that it did not seem that the Greeks were at all prepared to leave the euro zone.