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Eyewitness News: New Greek finance minister to be sworn in

The figures showed the Yes vote drew about 40 per cent.

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Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is counting on a change of style, if not necessarily substance, by turning to a longtime ally to seek a new deal with creditors to keep his nation in the euro.

Dombrovskis said the previous Eurogroup offer to consider restructuring Greek debt made in 2012 was not on the table anymore.

Like many others in the leftist ruling party, he is more of a professor than a politician.

Sakellaridis said Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras “feels the need to thank (Varoufakis) for his ceaseless efforts to promote the government’s positions and the interests of the Greek people, under very hard conditions”.

The European Commission said it “respects” the result of the referendum. This is a tactical move by Greece in that Varoufakis is intensely disliked by the other European Union finance ministers due to his arrogant, bombastic rhetoric about the European Union committing “terrorism” against Greece and veiled references to German Nazis.

The difference now, he added, would be that every day that passes will inflict more pain on the Greek people, especially if banks remain closed and capital controls stay in force.

“We want to continue the discussion…”

The Eurozone finance ministers have proposed spending cuts and tax increases in exchange for further financial assistance to Greece.

Greece has appointed Euclid Tsakalotos as its new finance minister. An official projection of the final result is expected at 1800 GMT.

He said the bloc had all the tools necessary to prevent contagion and was ready to use them.

Greece’s Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis, says he’s resigning, in a shock announcement, despite the Government having secured a resounding victory for the “No” vote in the country’s bailout resignation.

It is not the first time Tsakalotos has taken over from Varoufakis. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said she would travel to Paris today to meet with the French president, Francois Hollande, for a “joint assessment of the situation after the Greek referendum“.

But the immediate worry is what the EU leaders will do and what the European Central Bank is prepared to do in order to prevent the unprecedented chaos of a meltdown. “It is a yes to the eurozone as a land of prosperity for its people”, finance minister Yanis Varoufakis said at a press conference.

“You have to have confidence in the ability of the European Central Bank to act”.

The country’s political opposition have warned against a “Grexit” and a minority of Greek voters are afraid of the possibility of returning to Drachma (the original national currency of Greece).

The “No” vote has left Greece and the eurozone in uncharted waters.

Germany, however, remains highly reluctant to discuss debt relief.

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The past week saw the country’s bailout program expire on Tuesday when it went into arrears on a €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) repayment to the worldwide Monetary Fund. Greece is now ineligible for further IMF funding pending a board decision on future aid.

The opposition accused Tsipras of jeopardizing the country's membership in the 19-nation group that uses the euro