EU says new Greek reform proposal insufficient

The European Commission (EC) said on Wednesday that Greece's new reform proposal was insufficient and "does not reflect" the result of discussions between EC President Jean-Claude Juncker and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras during a meeting last week.

Spokesman Margaritis Schinas told a news conference that the commission was of the view that "the ball is now clearly in the court of the Greek government" which needed to follow up on the agreement at the meeting with President Juncker on June 3, Xinhua news agency reported.

The latest Greek submission calls for a primary budget surplus of 0.75 percent of gross domestic product this year, rising to 1.75 percent next year and 2.5 percent in 2017. This is below the one percent, two percent and three percent in an offer by creditors presented by president Juncker.

Greece on Monday submitted a new reform proposal to the EC in order to unlock the final 7.2 billion euros ($8.1 billion) in bailout financing.

Pierre Moscovici, the EC's economic chief, has already demanded a rewrite, according to spokesman Margaritis Schinas.

Tsipras is now in Brussels attending an EU summit with Caribbean and Latin American nations, during which he is expected to meet French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss the bailout issue.

Schinas said "there is nothing scheduled at the moment" that Juncker would meet with Tsipras on the same day.