The talks between Greece and its international creditors failed on Sunday, and Athens got closer to default on debts, threatening the country's future in the euro zone.
Representatives of the European Union laid the blame on Athens - in their view, debt-ridden Greece failed to offer anything new to attract the funding needed for the payment in June of 1.6 billion euro to the International Monetary Fund.
Greece says that it is still ready to negotiate, but representatives of the EU and the IMF say that they are not authorized to proceed. Athens insists that it would never give in to demands for further reductions in pensions and salaries.
"All this is very sad. It was the last attempt to overcome the situation, but the gulf is too wide. It is possible, of course, to discuss the gulf, but it is wide as the ocean" - said a source close to the negotiations.
Calling the talks "last attempt" to reach an agreement, the EU executive body of the European Commission reported that the euro zone finance ministers will discuss the issue at a meeting on Thursday.
Since technically the deal is unlikely, the ministers may have to take the difficult political decision on the membership of Greece in the currency bloc.
With the exit of Greece from the euro zone after several years of difficult negotiations and the two programs of financial assistance in the amount of 240 billion euro, the most ambitious project of the EU's monetary union will receive a powerful blow.
On Friday, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras made clear that he is ready for painful compromises with regards to austerity measures and reforms in exchange for financial assistance.
However, the European Commission said after the talks, in which the European Central Bank also took part, that "the Greek proposals are incomplete."
"Despite some progress, the negotiations were not successful, since between the Greek plans and the joint request of the European Commission, the ECB and the IMF, there is a significant gap," - said in a statement the European Commission.
Lenders require Athens annual savings of 2 $ euro.
Deputy Prime Minister, Yannis Dragasakis, who headed the Greek delegation at the talks, said that Athens are ready to continue the dialogue, but the European creditors insist on reducing pensions and increasing the value-added tax in order to reduce the budget deficit.
Athens faced with the problems of debt repayment after, in the middle of last year, the EU and the IMF required for painful reforms and stopped providing funds from the financial assistance program. In addition to the IMF loan, Greece has to pay 6.7 billion euro for the bonds maturing in July and August in the portfolio of the ECB.
Even if these short-term problems will be overcome, Greece will have to return the money received under the financial assistance programs. This cargo will weigh on the fragile economy of the country for decades if Athens will not be able to negotiate with creditors to reduce the debt burden.