(MENAFN- AFP) Greece and the European Union traded barbs Sunday over Brussels' latest demands for economic reforms in Athens, with EU commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker accusing Greece's premier of misrepresenting the proposals that Athens has termed "absurd".
Speaking at a Group of Seven summit in Germany, European Commission President Juncker accused Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of failing to respect "minimal rules" in their negotiations on the country's towering debt burden.
Juncker also said Tsipras had failed to deliver a promised list of alternative reforms.
"Alexis Tsipras, my friend, had promised that by Thursday evening, he would present a second alternatve proposal... I have never received this alternative proposal," said Juncker.
Greece's radical-left government and its creditors -- the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and European Central Bank -- have been negotiating for five months on reforms needed to unlock 7.2 billion euros ($8 billion) in rescue funds that Athens desperately needs.
With the clock ticking down on Greek loan repayments totalling 1.6 billion euros over three weeks, the Commission last week presented Greece with a five-page list of proposed reforms, including sales tax hikes and cuts in civil servants' salaries and pensions.
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis on Sunday called the proposals "borderline insulting".
"It was an aggressive move designed to terrorise the Greek government," Varoufakis told Proto Thema daily.
Tsipras also came out swinging against the proposals, telling parliament on Friday they were "absurd" and insisting Athens would not accept a deal unless it included a restructuring of its massive debt.
Juncker said Tsipras did not give a complete picture of the talks.
The prime minister had presented the EU's proposal as a take-it-or-leave-it offer, said Juncker, even though he "knew perfectly well that I was willing to discuss the main points of disagreements".
- 'Minimal rules' -
The EU chief therefore spurned Tsipras's request for a telephone conversation on Saturday, with a spokesman reportedly saying that there was "nothing to discuss".
"Alexis Tsipras is my friend but friends have to observe minimal rules," Juncker said.
He added that he would like to see a Greek counter-proposal ahead of an EU summit with Latin America and Caribbean leaders next week, where he could discuss it with Tsipras.
EU President Donald Tusk also spoke out on the side of the creditors.
"If someone says I'm willing to lend money and says I hope you'll pay me back, this person is not a ruthless robber. It's not true that debtors are always moral and creditors always immoral. It's more sophisticated than what some politicians want to show today," said Tusk.
Greece's bailout agreement with the creditors expires at the end of June.
Should Greece miss its loan payments and default, many fear that this would set off a chain of events that could lead to a messy Greek exit from the euro.
Many within the ruling Syriza party, including a number of cabinet members, say the PM should call early elections rather than accept further austerity measures.
"I do not think there is much room for a positive deal with the creditors... they probably seek submission," the cabinet's chief eurosceptic, Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, told To Vima weekly.
"They want to smash the country socially and humiliate the government," he said.
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