European leaders called on Greece to issue "serious and credible proposals" to try to find a way forward, after Greek voters rejected a bailout deal that would have given the country more credit to pay its debt in exchange for tough austerity measures.
The German and French leaders issued the call ahead of a meeting of Eurozone leaders on Tuesday.
"'We are now waiting for precise proposals from the Greek prime minister, for a [program] that will allow Greece to return to prosperity. It is urgent to have these proposals so we can find a way out of this situation,' said the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, after talks with her counterpart, the French president, François Hollande. "Expectations of a breakthrough at the high-level talks on Tuesday night were dampened by the president of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker. Speaking at the European parliament on Tuesday morning, he said a solution would not appear overnight. 'What we are going to do today is to talk to each other and restore order,' he said."
Finance ministers said they needed concrete proposals from Greece to figure out what's next.
At issue here is whether Greece will use the referendum as leverage to get more favorable terms from the EU. Greece, for example, could demand that the EU erase part of its debt.
The Guardian reports that Slovakia's finance minister Peter Kazimir said that is his country's red line.
"For my country nominal debt relief is impossible," Kazimir said as he arrived for the meeting.
On the other hand, Pierre Gramegna of Luxembourg, which currently holds the EU presidency, left the door open to looking at debt relief saying "everything must be discussed."
This story will develop as the meeting of ministers gets underway. We'll update this post with the latest.
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