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Eurozone on edge as Greece defers proposal

Last Updated 07 July 2015, 21:10 IST

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras sat down for talks with French President Francois Hollande, Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission (EC) head Jean-Claude Juncker, ahead of an emergency eurozone summit on Tuesday, said the EC.

Commission spokesperson Mina Andreeva posted a photo of the four-way meeting in Brussels, before the larger summit of 19 eurozone leaders due to start at 1630 GMT.

Meanwhile, Hollande said decisions to keep Greece in the eurozone must be taken up this week, as he arrived at the emergency summit. “To keep Greece in the eurozone is the objective. To get there, Greece must make serious, credible proposals,” said Hollande. “We have to be quick because it is this week that decisions must be made.”

The talks follow a Eurogroup meeting of finance ministers earlier on Tuesday to discuss the next steps after Sunday's shock referendum, in which Greece firmly rejected further austerity measures in return for a new EU-IMF bailout.

Facing strong pressure to come up with new proposals, Greece is set to make a formal request for a new bailout programme as early as Wednesday, said Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem after the finance ministers' meeting.

“The Greek government will send the Eurogroup a new request letter for ESM (European Stability Mechanism, the EU's bailout fund) support and as soon as that comes in, hopefully tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. We will have another conference call for the Eurogroup,” Dijsselbloem told reporters.

Athens, meanwhile, has improved proposals for a bailout deal made to its creditors last week, said a Greek government source on Tuesday.

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(Published 07 July 2015, 21:10 IST)

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