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Germany: Greeks Have 'Torn Down Last Bridges'

Germany: Greeks Have 'Torn Down Last Bridges'

Germany's deputy chancellor has said new negotiations with Greece are "difficult to imagine" after the No vote in the referendum.

Sigmar Gabriel told the Tagesspiegel newspaper: "With the rejection of the rules of the eurozone... negotiations about a programme worth billions are barely conceivable."

He said Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and his Syriza government were "leading the Greek people on a path of bitter abandonment and hopelessness".

Mr Gabriel, who is also Germany's economics minister, said Mr Tsipras had "torn down the last bridges on which Greece and Europe could have moved towards a compromise".

His Social Democratic Party shares power with German chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats.

Several senior EU figures had suggested a No vote could lead to Greece leaving the 19-member eurozone, or even leaving the European Union.

Mr Tsipras, however, has insisted that the No vote would strengthen his hand in fresh negotiations.

Speaking after the result he said the question of whether Greece remained in the European Union or not was "completely off the table".

He said voters had made a "brave choice" and that the mandate they had given him was not "to clash with Europe" but to find a viable solution to Greece's financial crisis.

French finance minister Michel Sapin says it is up to Greece to come up with an offer after the vote.

He said: "The basis of a dialogue is on the table, but it's up to Greece to show us that it takes the dialogue seriously and that it knows it can stay in the euro and that there are decisions to make."

A Downing Street statement said: "The Greek people expressed a decisive view in yesterday's referendum.

"This is a critical moment in the economic crisis in Greece. We will continue to do whatever is necessary to protect our economic security at this uncertain time.

"We have already got contingency plans in place and later this morning the Prime Minister will chair a further meeting to review those plans in light of yesterday's result."

Greek government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis said initiatives to find a new deal would start straight away.

He said the Bank of Greece was immediately asking the European Central Bank to inject emergency cash for Greece's banks, which have been closed all week because of capital controls.

Greece's opposition leader Antonis Samaris, a former prime minister, said he was stepping down in the wake of the referendum result.