Eyewitness News: France and Germany accept Greek referendum

“We say very clearly that the door for talks remains open and the meeting of euro zone leaders tomorrow should be understood in this sense”.

European officials are pressing Greece to come up with serious proposals in order to restart financial aid talks, a day after the country voted overwhelmingly against new bailout terms setting more austerity measures.

In Paris, Chancellor Angela Merkel and President François Hollande tried to plot a common strategy after Greeks returned a resounding no to five years of eurozone-scripted austerity.

“It is now up to the government of Alexis Tsipras to make serious, credible proposals so that this willingness to stay in the eurozone can translate into a lasting programme”, Mr Hollande said.

France, Italy and Spain are impatient for a deal while Germany, the European commission and northern Europe seem content to let Greece stew and allow the euphoria following Sunday’s vote to give way to the sobering realities of bank closures, cash shortages and isolation.

Only emergency support from the ECB is keeping the banks afloat and saving Greece from a chaotic euro exit that would inflict more pain on its people and gravely damage the currency, the strongest symbol of the EU’s drive for an “ever closer union” on a continent once ravaged by two world wars.

The two leaders were due to pursue discussions over dinner.

In early bond trading, investors rushed into safe-haven German bonds while yields on Italian government debt rose sharply.

Mr Varoufakis said it was felt his departure would be helpful in finding a solution to the country’s debt crisis.

For her part, Merkel said the conditions for a new Greek rescue package “have not yet been met”.

Eurozone finance ministers say they expect to hear new proposals from Greece after the country voted to reject the terms of an worldwide bailout.

The incomingGreek finance minister, Euclid Tsakalotos, was born in 1960 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He is theauthor of six books and many articles, and editor of three volumes. Tsipras’s leftwing Syriza, and his rightwing nationalist coalition partner, Anel, were joined by centre-left Pasok, liberals To Potami, and centre-right New Democracy.

“They must make a decision, this evening or tonight, what they are going to do”, Rutte said.

“I really hope that the Greek government – if it wants to enter negotiations again – will accept that the other 18 member states of the euro can’t just go along with an unconditional haircut”, said Mr Gabriel, who is also Germany’s economy minister.

Varoufakis had infuriated European counterparts by lashing demands for economic reform and welfare cuts as “terrorism” and “fiscal waterboarding”.

“We want to continue the discussion”. “We will now wait for the initiatives of the Greek authorities”, he said.

“For my country nominal debt relief is impossible”, Kazimir said as he arrived for the meeting. Around 80% of voters under the age of 34 voted no on Sunday. Greeks are limited to withdrawing €60 per day from their bank accounts, but economists believe that this could be lowered further in the coming days.

About 38.70 percent voted “Yes” in the referendum to accept fresh bailout loans from the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB), and the worldwide Monetary Fund (IMF).

Tsipras, 40, insists that instead of the so-called Grexit, the creditors will now finally have to talk about restructuring Greece’s massive 240 billion euro ($267bn) debt to them.