Tsipras was due to resume talks with Greece’s lenders at 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) before the ministers reconvene at 1 p.m. and European leaders begin arriving in Brussels later this afternoon.
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Negotiations are now at a halt over which economic reforms Greece must make in order to secure additional bailout funds and avoid default.
“Therefore the [Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats] group urges all parties involved – the IMF included – to take this very last step”.
If it misses the payment, Greece may have to introduce capital controls to prevent a run on its banks.
The central bank has increased its support to Greek banks every working day since Friday, a sign of how big a strain the uncertainty is having on the financial system.
Dutch Finance Minister and chair of the eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem speaks during a media conference after a meeting of eurogroup finance ministers in Brussels on Saturday, June 27, 2015.
Therefore, it was decided to suspend the meeting and provide Greece with time to discuss the proposals with its global creditors and present a common proposal to the Eurogroup.
The banks’ solvency is linked to the financial state of the Greek government and if there is ultimately no bailout, the banks are arguably bust.
Creditors (IMF, ECB and EC) demand that Greece increases taxes, lower pensions and raise retirement age to 67. The euro zone’s bailout fund, however, would have the option to accelerate Greece’s payment schedule on the bonds it holds. “They want to humiliate the Greek people”. “How will we eat, how will we live?”
If no deal is reached, Greece has said it will have trouble making the June 30 repayment to the IMF of some 1.6 billion euros.
Many questions remained over the referendum, which is being called over the terms of a bailout offer that may no longer be on the table. The talks are about what reforms Greece should adopt in exchange for loans.
In a Catch 22 situation, Greece would lose access to any financing from the IMF, including from its existing program, while it remains in arrears.
“As long as the fundamental problems in Greek society are not addressed, growth won’t come back to Greece”.
Marathon meetings between leftist prime minister Alexis Tsipras and the heads of the European Commission, European Central Bank and global Monetary Fund, Greece’s main creditors, also ended with no deal.
Mr Varoufakis added: “If your finance minister and I were to sit down and I were to explain my proposals. We are calling for a programme that will make this possible, to give the Greek people hope for a better future”.
She said the negotiating was a matter for the eurozone finance ministers and technical experts.
Before leaving Athens, he had attacked “certain” creditors in a swipe at the IMF, for rejecting fiscal measures Athens put forward to plug a budget gap.
“We have no basis for further negotiations”, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said ahead of the meeting.
“The work can start immediately as far as we are concerned”, he said. “First we need to see the reforms agreed and implemented”.
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Even as Tsipras spoke, the lines forming at petrol stations and in front of the shrinking number of bank machines that still contained cash highlighted the scale of the disaster facing Greeks, who have endured more than six years of economic decline.
