French, German leaders urge Greece to offer quick proposals

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

Neither Number 10 nor Chancellor George Osborne would be drawn on whether they favoured a Greek exit from the single currency – the outcome which many in Europe had suggested pre-vote would be the result of a referendum “no”.

Mr Gabriel said plans for humanitarian aid for Greece must now be drawn up amid fears the country could run out of fuel and food.

The urgency of the situation was starkly underlined by the decision of the European Central Bank (ECB) effectively to make it harder for struggling Greek banks to access emergency credit. Paper is already running out in Greece and books may stop being published. The far-right National Front is calling for the outright dissolution of the euro zone and the mainstream right wants “Grexit” while the left wing of his ruling Socialists want him to use his European Union veto to defy German-led austerity and back the Greeks.

Hollande accused Mrs Merkel of failure.

He said he believed the result would secure “a better future for me and my children”.

Greece and its creditors are expected to try to restart negotiations on a financial rescue package for the country, but it is unclear what scope there is for compromise. ‘What we are going to do today is to talk to each other and restore order, ‘ he said. “Europe is an assembly founded on values, principles, on a conception of the world.. a conception founded on freedom, openness, and also on respect”.

“We saw the impact of the problems in the Eurozone in 2012 and how they spilt over into the United Kingdom”.

The last EU-IMF bailout for Greece expired last Tuesday, despite Tsipras’s appeals for it to be extended. “There is no longer enough time, and there is an urgency, for Greece, as well as for Europe”, said Francois Hollande at the press conference in the Elysee.

But Mrs Merkel said the “preconditions” for a fresh bail-out “are not yet there”.

“The vulnerability of China’s economy, the drop in iron ore prices and the uncertainty created by Greece doesn’t bode well for Australia’s economy”, she said.

The new Greek finance chief at the negotiating table is Euclid Tsakalotos, who will likely prove less combative in style than his predecessor, but may prove less different in substance. “We have to remain consistent”.

Benoit Hamon, the ex- French education minister, said: “Merkel has lost.

There is no easy way out, but even at the eleventh hour we urge the eurozone leaders and Greece to find a sustainable solution”, he said. In a phone call with European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, Mr. Tsipras raised the issue of lifting capital controls, providing more Emergency Liquidity Assistance to Greek lenders, according to a Greek government official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with policy.

This story will develop as the meeting of ministers gets underway.

In a blow to Greek hopes, the European Commission dismissed the No vote as nothing more than a “signal” because the poll was “neither legally nor factually correct”. Greece may push for a debt cut or restructuring – especially after the International Monetary Fund said that is exactly what the country needs – but it simply won’t wash in Berlin. “What will determine whether it stays or leaves is the quality of negotiations that will start”, Finance Minister Michel Sapin said.