Europe pushes Greece for debt plan as euro exit looms
Tsipras - Dijsselbloem - Draghi - Photo EU Council
(BRUSSELS) - European leaders accused Greece at an emergency summit Tuesday of failing to produce concrete proposals for a new bailout to keep it in the euro after Greeks defiantly rejected further austerity.
Greece's leftist prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, faced his 18 eurozone counterparts for the first time since Sunday's dramatic referendum, while at home Greek banks remain closed and fears grew that the economy could implode.
The new Greek finance minister also met colleagues from the currency union.
But there was growing unease that Athens had not yet put forward a new reform plan to win more bailout cash despite pleas from international creditors.
"We still do not have the basis for negotiations," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said as she arrived for the crisis summit.
"It is not a question of weeks any more, but a question of a few days," warned the leader of Europe's biggest economy, who faces huge domestic pressure to be tough on Greece.
French President Francois Hollande urged Greece to present "serious, credible proposals", adding that to keep Athens in the single currency "it is this week that decisions must be made".
With the clock ticking for Greece's cash-starved banks, a government official in Athens said Greece would on Wednesday present a revised bailout request "taking into account" the concerns of creditors and seek aid to tide it over until the end of the month.
The new proposal -- "a 'common ground' document for a sustainable agreement" -- will be considered by the Eurogroup finance ministers in a telephone conference later that day, the official added.
After his debut appearance at Tuesday's Eurogroup meeting, new Greek finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos told reporters that fellow eurozone nations had shown "political will" and there had been "progress" at the talks to help the country reach a bailout deal.
Tsakalotos has replaced his outspoken motorbike-riding predecessor Yanis Varoufakis, who resigned on Monday in a bid to ease the rift with Athens's creditors.
- Obama calls Tsipras, Merkel -
The summit comes two days after Greeks voted by 61 percent to reject reform terms for a new EU-IMF bailout in a hastily-arranged referendum.
The result was a political victory for Tsipras but infuriated other European leaders and dealt a traumatic blow to the vision of European integration.
Tsipras is expected to call for debt relief to cut Greece's 320-billion-euro ($350-billion) debt mountain.
But that is deemed a red line in many European capitals, especially in Berlin and the newer eastern members of the eurozone.
A bridging loan is another possibility to get Greece through a huge payment of more than three billion euros to the European Central Bank (ECB), due on July 20, officials say.
But anxiety is building over the possibility that Greece could be forced out of the eurozone -- a seismic shock not only for Europe but also for the world economy.
US President Barack Obama spoke by telephone to both Merkel and Tsipras before Tuesday's summit, reflecting the concern.
When asked if a so-called "Grexit" from the single currency was possible, EU Commissioner for the euro Valdis Dombrovskis said: "If trust is not rebuilt, if there is no credible reform package, it cannot be excluded".
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, said the Oxford-educated Tsakalotos had "submitted no new proposal today" but Greece was expected to send a letter to the EU's bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, by Wednesday.
Tsipras is also due to address the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday.
- Grim in Greece -
The situation remained dire in Greece, where liquidity-starved banks are unable to open until Thursday at the earliest.
Athenians awoke yet again Tuesday to the bleak reality of closed banks and more lines at cash machines for their daily withdrawal limit of 60 euros ($67), amid dread the ATMs could soon be running empty.
The ECB, which has been keeping Greek lenders afloat, said Monday it had decided to maintain emergency funding to Greek banks -- so-called Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) -- at its current level of 89 billion euros.
But it said Greece had to provide more collateral, a move that will make it more difficult to access the vital funds in the future, and it will be waiting for the results of the summit to see whether further steps are necessary.