BERLIN/WASHINGTON
Germany said Greece must be willing to compromise with its international creditors on Monday, as both sides prepared for a vital meeting in Brussels.
“If Greece wants to stay within the eurozone then the Greek government should promptly make a substantial offer, which goes beyond the ones in the past and which will be acceptable to 18 other euro members,” Sigmar Gabriel, vice chancellor and economy minister, said in a Berlin press conference.
Earlier, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said Germany was open to talks with Greece but indicated little enthusiasm for discussing a new aid program.
“The German government remains ready for further talks,” he told reporters in Berlin. “As Chancellor Angela Merkel said last week at parliament, the doors are always open for further talks. But in the light of the decision of Greek citizens yesterday, conditions are not in place at the moment for entering negotiations on a new aid program.”
He said the “No” vote in Sunday’s Greek referendum was a “rejection of the principles that guided the year-long assistance to the countries under the program.”
Germany will now wait to see what new proposals the Greek government produces at Tuesday’s Eurogroup meeting in Brussels.
No automatic Grexit
French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said the “No” vote would not mean an automatic exit from the eurozonefor Greece and urged Athens to restart negotiations with eurozone finance ministers.
Speaking on French Europe 1 radio, Sapin said: "There is a risk of leaving the euro but there is no automatic exit in the same way that the vote doesn't mean automatically that Greece stays in the euro. What will determine whether it stays or leaves is the quality of negotiations that will start."
In remarks that seemed to be contradicted in Germany later, he said talks on reducing Greek debt burden were "not taboo".
"If, having won back their pride, they can return to negotiations, so much the better," Sapin said. "It is up to the Greek government to make proposals now."
The minister denied reports that President Francois Hollande had asked Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to remove Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, who unexpectedly resigned on Monday morning.
Chief bailout negotiator Euclid Tsakalotos has been tipped to replace Varoufakis, official sources told Anadolu Agency.
In Sunday's referendum, more than 61 percent of Greek voters backed their government’s stance and voted “No” to further austerity measures proposed by its creditors. Greek banks were shut last week as the European Central Bank declined further emergency funding.
Meanwhile, French presidential hopeful Alain Juppe said the EU should organize Greece's exit from the eurozone "without any drama".
"Greece is no longer capable of sticking to the disciplines of the eurozone," he said in a statement.
Christian Noyer, governor of the Bank of France, told reporters in Paris that Greece’s debt could not be restructured because it would breach the Lisbon treaty article on financing government deficits.
Hollande and Merkel are to meet on Monday evening in Paris ahead of Tuesday's summit.
Greece remains part of Europe
The European Commission vice-president for the euro said it was possible to reach a solution. "One thing is clear … the place of Greece is and remains in Europe … all sides need to respond responsibly for the sake of Greek people," Valdis Dombrovskis told a news conference in Brussels.
"The outcome of the referendum certainly has made things more complicated … If all sides work seriously it’s possible to find a solution even in this very complicated situation."
In a series of tweets on Monday, Dombrovskis also dismissed claims of threats to the eurozone’s stability.
In Poland, where the government has pledged to adopt the euro, Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz said on Sunday evening that Greece would have no choice but to leave the eurozone while Belgian Finance Minister Johan Van Overtveldt said the 19-nation Eurogroup should discuss measures "that can put the Greek economy back on track and gives the Greeks a perspective for the future".
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Greece faced a difficult future and the eurozone could not be an “a la carte club in which you can pick and choose".
He added that "Greece needs to grow, create jobs and to do so it must have policies that work to that effect. Demagogy always ends up crashing into reality."
Italian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan tweeted that Italy would continue to work for a “more united and integrated Europe”. It was true yesterday and it is true tomorrow”.
Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Likhachev said Sunday’s result was “a step toward an exit from the eurozone”.
In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnes said Monday that the U.S. position has not changed as the referendum resulted in a "no" vote. European leaders and Greece have to continue to negotiate to keep Greece in the eurozone, he added.
"This was a pretty clear expression from the Greek people, that they do seek greater economic opportunity. That's certainly understandable, given the significant economic challenges that have faced that country over the last several years," Earnest pointed out.
Since 2010, the EU and the IMF have allocated around 240 billion euros ($265 billion) in bailout loans to Greece to pay its creditors.
A 245 billion euro bailout program under the European Financial Stability Facility ended late last month. Greece must make a 3.5 billion euro payment to the European Central Bank on July 20 but analysts doubt Athens will be able to make the deadline.
