Tsipras writes to creditors saying Greece could accept a bailout

Kostas Karamanlis, who was Greek PM from 2004 to 2009, has also given a TV address calling for Greek’s to vote “Yes”, saying a “No” vote would lead to an exit from “Europe’s core”.

Sapin had been pushing for an agreement with Greece before Sunday’s referendum, but after a fruitless meeting of European finance ministers Wednesday, he conceded that there’s no point negotiating until after the vote. In fact, the Greek premier argued that Greece is still at the negotiation table and will get a better deal if the “No” vote prevails in the July 5 referendum.

But some of Greece’s main creditors – including Germany, the largest single contributor to Greece’s bailout – contended it wasn’t good enough and that a deal was impossible in any case before the referendum. Greeks are now limited to ATM withdrawals of 60 euros a day and can not send money overseas or make worldwide payments without special permission.

The crisis is hitting hard in Greece, where banks will be closed all week, although around a thousand branches opened Wednesday to allow the elderly to receive pension payments.

“I worked for 50 years on the sea and now I am a beggar for 120 euros”, one pensioner in Athens said.

Another customer, a retired mariner who asked not to be named, told AFP he had no cash to buy crucial medicine for his sick wife.

Greece failed to meet a midnight deadline on Tuesday for making a roughly 1.6-billion euro payment to the global Monetary Fund, sending the nation into greater financial turmoil. But news reports suggest the letter contains elements eurozone ministers will find hard to accept.

In a statement, Gerry Rice, director of communications for the International Monetary Fund, confirmed that the bailout repayment “has not been received”.

‘That’s why first of all Greece must clarify its position on what it wants, and then we will have to talk about it, under conditions that are now far more hard, ‘ Schaeuble told a press conference.

The first change he listed – and the most significant – is for Greece to continue levying a lower rate of sales tax on its many islands.

Stock markets, however, rebounded Wednesday amid hopes that a deal could still be struck to keep Greece in the eurozone.

In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.79 percent to 17,757.91.

“The world is watching us”, she said. “There are no immediate consequences for France”.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that “the future of Europe is not at stake” from the Greek crisis but warned against striking a compromise at any price that could weaken the EU. Polls show the “no” vote remains ahead, but that the gap is narrowing. “We are going to win on Sunday”.

Worldwide standards call for at least two weeks’ notice to allow for discussion, crafting a clear question to be put to voters and for worldwide observers to be invited to monitor the vote.

It was the ECB’s decision on Sunday to not increase emergency funding for Greek banks that pushed Athens to close lenders and impose capital controls.

Writing on his personal website on Wednesday, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said that “with the power vested upon us by that NO [vote]”, the government could “renegotiate Greece’s public debt as well as the distribution of burdens between the haves and the have nots”.

He also insisted that “Greece is, and will remain, in the euro”.