“It will be important tomorrow that the Greek prime minister tells us how things should proceed and what precise suggestions he can submit to us for a medium-term programme that will lead Greece to prosperity and growth again”, Merkel said in Paris, where she met French President Francois Hollande to work out a common stance on Greece. Earlier, he described Greek government representatives as “rip-off merchants” and “conmen”.
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Hollande added: “It’s now up to the government of [Prime Minister] Alexis Tsipras to offer serious, credible proposals so that this will can be turned into a programme which gives a long-term perspective, because Greece needs a long-term perspective in the euro zone with stable rules, as the euro zone itself does”.
The eurozone’s two most powerful members, France and Germany, say the door is open for resolving the Greek crisis, but that the next move is up to Athens.
Greeks overwhelmingly rejected conditions of a rescue package from creditors on Sunday, throwing the future of the country’s euro zone membership into further doubt and deepening a standoff with lenders.
Without any proposals, the European digital commissioner Gunther Oettinger told German media, any new negotiations would be “meaningless”.
“The “no” vote in Greece’s referendum on Sunday dramatically increases the risk of a slide toward a disorderly Greek exit from the eurozone”, ratings agency Fitch said.
In Brussels on Tuesday, leaders are expected to focus on the immediate issue of emergency funding for Greece.
Merkel is due to arrive in Paris around 6:00 pm local time (1600 GMT) for talks in which she and Hollande will try to bridge the gap between France’s more conciliatory line and the tough rhetoric heard across the political spectrum in Berlin.
Eurozone finance ministers will meet first – including mild-mannered Euclid Tsakalotos, appointed by Syriza after the combative Yanis Varoufakis resigned in a show of willing to forge a new deal. “In this context, the Governing Council decided today to adjust the haircuts on collateral accepted by the Bank of Greece for ELA”, the statement said without giving further details.
The special summit is set to begin at 1600 GMT, after a meeting of eurozone finance ministers.
“Expectations of a breakthrough at the high-level talks on Tuesday night were dampened by the president of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker”.
“For recovery of the Greek economy, hard measures and reforms are inevitable”.
The result dealt a body blow to the vision of European integration, but elated parties campaigning against austerity and loss of national sovereignty.
The Greek bank association chief said an eight-day-old bank closure that has crippled the economy will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday and the daily cash machine withdrawal limit of 60 euros would be maintained. “It would be the beginning of the end of the single currency”, he said.
They called for immediate steps to reopen banks and said any deal must address debt sustainability – code for reducing Athens’ crushing debt – but gave no hint of concessions from the Greek side towards its creditors’ demands for deep spending cuts and far-reaching reforms of pensions and labour markets. “The debt burden in the months and years ahead is too high on Greece to allow it to get back on its feet again”, he said.
He added that the Bank of Greece was immediately asking the European Central Bank to inject emergency euro cash for Greece´s depleted banks, which have been shuttered all week because of capital controls.
Greeks also discussed why they voted “yes” or “no” during a Q&A thread on /r/AskReddit. The worldwide Monetary Fund and several other prominent critics have called for Germany to write off some of Greece’s debt, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel has refused to budge.
MONTAGNE: So it may have come to this, Grexit – much talked about, the exit from the eurozone by Greece – could really happen.
He suggested Britain could fly planeloads of euro notes to Greece to assist stranded tourists.
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Let’s turn now to the ongoing Greek financial crisis.
