European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has delivered an angry rebuke to the Greek government and accused it of misleading voters about proposals he had made to help solve the country's debt crisis.
"I don't care about the Greek government, I do care about the Greek people," he said noting that many "are suffering more than others in the European Union" from efforts to reduce debts.
"The debate in Greece and outside Greece would be easier if the Greek government would tell exactly what the Commission ...is really proposing. I am blaming the Greeks (for telling) things to the Greek public which are not consistent with what I've told the Greek prime minister."
Mr Juncker, who has lately criticised prime minister Alexis Tsipras after making strenuous efforts to befriend the novice left-wing premier, said that the Commission was not in favour of raising value-added tax on medicines and electricity and had suggested other ways to improve the Greek budget, including by making a "modest cut" in defence spending.
Earlier, Mr Tsipras said Commission proposals would add 10 percentage points to VAT on electricity. His health minister has said he did not want to raise VAT on medicines.
Mr Tsipras said Athens is seeking a viable, long-term deal that would pull the country out of economic crisis but faced a deadlock with creditors over debt restructuring.
"It is crucial that we strike a viable deal," Mr Tsipras told the leader of the centrist To Potami party ahead of their meeting.
"It is crucial to end this vicious cycle and to not be forced to go to a deal which, in six months' time, will bring us back to the same point."
Mr Tsipras said the main factor blocking a deal was difference between its European and IMF creditors over debt restructuring.
"The big contradiction is the IMF's presence, which wants measures and a restructuring, (whereas) the others want measures but no restructuring. They want an a-la-carte IMF."
Greece's €240bn bailout expires on 30 June, and to meet that deadline, a reform deal must be resolved by Thursday when the eurozone's 19 finance ministers, who control the purse strings of the rescue programme, meet in Luxembourg.
Mr Varoufakis said talks in Brussels collapsed on Sunday because "the representatives of the creditors told us that they didn't have a mandate to hold in-depth negotiations over our proposals and measures to resolve the debt crisis.
"That's the reason why there was no outcome," Mr Varoufakis said.
While the European executive insisted the EU-IMF creditors had made "major concessions", the radical-left government in Athens continues to reject what it views as "irrational" austerity demands.
The talks concerning the release of the €7.2bn in rescue funds remaining in Greece's bailout have dragged on for five months.
Meanwhile
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she was willing to do all she could to keep Greece in the euro zone but insisted the onus remained on Athens and its creditors to break a deadlock and reach a deal.
Lamenting a lack of progress in the negotiations for an aid-for-reforms deal, Ms Merkel put the focus squarely on Athens and its international creditors, the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Greece has been trying to bypass its creditors by urging Ms Merkel and other leaders to strike a "political deal" to unlock aid.
But Merkel did not waver, emboldened by unflinching support for her firm line both from her conservative party and her Social Democrat coalition partners.
"Unfortunately, there is little new to report," she told a news conference after meeting Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel. "I'm concentrating all my energy on helping the three institutions and Greece to find a solution."
