Germany said Saturday that talks to keep Greece from default were headed for failure after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ surprise decision to call for a referendum, Reuters reported.
“We have no basis for further talks,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said according to the Wall Street Journal. “Clearly we can never rule out surprises with Greece, so there can always be hope,” Reuters reported he said. “But none of my colleagues with whom I’ve already spoken see any possibilities for what we can now do.”
The last-minute talks were aimed at keeping Greece from defaulting Tuesday on a debt payment as an international bailout expires. Fear of that event, along with the possibility of Greece leaving the eurozone, caused Greeks to line up at automatic-teller machines to withdraw cash, Reuters said.
Greek Finance Minister Yannis Varoufakis told Reuters he would press for an extension of the bailout to allow the referendum to be held.
“We are going to suggest to them that under these circumstances we should have an extension for a few weeks to ensure that the people are heard,” he told Reuters.
But Schaeuble said that was no longer a possibility: “Greece has left the negotiating table and so we are in a situation where on Tuesday the program ends, because there are no more negotiations.”
