Europe demands new Greek debt plan

European leaders warned Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to present new bailout proposals at an emergency summit on Tuesday or risk leaving the euro, after Greeks defiantly voted ‘No’ to further austerity in a referendum.Tsipras will face his 18 eurozone counterparts in Brussels as the country’s economy gasps for air, with banks closed until at least Thursday amid fears the Greek banking system is imploding.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, heads of eurozone’s largest economies, presented a united front on the eve of the summit, urging Tsipras to make “precise” proposals in a bid to rebuild shattered trust and restart negotiations.“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,” Hollande said yesterday after crisis talks with Merkel in Paris.

The meeting of the eurozone’s two most powerful leaders came a day after Greeks rejected reform terms for a new EU-IMF bailout in a historic referendum that was a political victory for Tsipras but infuriated Europe. For her part, Merkel said the conditions for a new Greek rescue package “have not yet been met.”