Euro zone gives Greece until July 11 for debt deal
Euro zone members have given Greece until the end of the week to come up with a proposal for sweeping reforms in return for loans that will keep the country from crashing out of Europe's currency bloc and into economic ruin.
"The stark reality is that we have only five days left ... Until now I have avoided talking about deadlines, but tonight I have to say loud and clear that the final deadline ends this week," European Council President Donald Tusk told a news conference.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has until July 10 to present the proposal, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she hoped to have convincing reform commitments from Tsipras on July 8 so she could ask the German parliament to authorize negotiations on a new aid program.
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Merkel said she was "not exaggeratedly optimistic" for a solution.
At an emergency summit in Brussels on July 7, representatives of the 19-country euro zone said all 28 European Union leaders would meet on July 11 to decide Greece's fate. The talks were organized after Greeks voted in a referendum on July 11 against a bailout that carried stringent austerity measures.
French President Francois Hollande said the European Central Bank would ensure that Greek banks had the minimum necessary liquidity to stay afloat until July 11.
The situation in Greece worsened with banks closed for a second week, limited cash withdrawals and businesses feeling the crunch of demands from vendors for cash payments.
If Greek banks run out of money and the country has to print its own currency, it could mean a state leaving the euro for the first time since it was launched in 1999, creating a precedent and fuelling doubts about the long-term viability of an incomplete European monetary union.
Even in France, the euro zone country most sympathetic to Athens, an opinion poll published on July 7 showed one in two people want Greece to leave the euro zone.