LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The European Union and the International Monetary Fund had imposed the targets as part of an emergency bailout plan. Debt-ridden, Greece faces potential bankruptcy and a loans default which may pitch the world into a new economic crisis.

Other eurozone countries, who share the same euro currency, will be meeting in Luxembourg. International auditors spent the weekend trying to obtain the most accurate picture of Greece's finances and forecasts. Widespread protests, including staff occupations of ministries slowed the resumption of negotiations.

The failure to reach the deficit target is linked to a bailout package that Greece needs to avoid running out of cash. Greece says it needs the loans to pay salary and other bills this month. The capital of Athens in particular is laboring under a crushing 350 billion euros or more of debt.

By the far the least popular part of Greece's austerity plan is the reduction of state workers, intended to free up the latest installment of EU and IMF loans. Under the plan, there is a "labor reserve," which will allow state workers to be placed on partial pay and be dismissed a year after. The Greek government has said it will put 30,000 workers in the reserve by the end of this year.

These austerity measures are highly unpopular in Greece. The public sector unions hope that continued strikes and demonstrations can deter the Socialist government's resolve to enact them.

Workers to be laid off make up a fifth of the Greek workforce. These employees are currently guaranteed jobs for life under a constitution that bans firing government employees, in almost all circumstances.

The government has yet to announce how the program would work, including details such as whether it would be used to push out younger workers, or to speed up the retirement of workers already reaching pension age.

Without the release of the latest $14 billion bailout payment, Greece could run out of money to pay state wage bills within weeks.

A senior member of the ruling coalition in Germany, Europe's paymaster, has suggested it may be necessary for Greece to get out of the eurozone, a prospect European governments officially reject as beyond consideration.

Greece's deficit this year is expected to reach 8.5 percent of gross domestic product, or $25.2 billion; higher than the targeted 7.8 percent of GDP, or $23.1 billion, the finance ministry said on Sunday.

For 2012, the deficit is projected to shrink to $19.8 billion, or 6.8 percent of GDP; still higher than the EU-IMF target of 6.5 percent.

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