Greece appoints new finance minister, creditors ponder post-No vote scenario

AthensBrusselsParis Greece on Monday appointed a new finance minister after Yanis Varoufakis announced his resignation even as the country voted ldquoNordquo to a bailout offer in a landmark referendum Heads of European institutions held a teleconference to discuss the consequences of the historic voteEuclid Tsakalotos the deputy foreign minister of international economic affairs and chief coordinator of the countrys negotiating team over the debt deal with lenders replaced Varoufakis He will be sworn in at the presidential mansion in the evening an official announcement saidNewly appointed Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos attends a handover ceremony at the Finance Ministry in Athens on July 6 2015 Pic AFPIn a posting on his website Varoufakis said the decision was made in view of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants and assorted partners for my absence from its meetingsldquoSoon after the announcement of the referendum results I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants and assorted lsquopartnersrsquo for my lsquoabsencersquo from its meetings an idea that the Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreementrdquo he saidldquoFor this reason I am leaving the ministry of finance todayrdquoldquoI consider it my duty to help Alexis Tsipras exploit as he sees fit the capital that the Greek people granted us through yesterdayrsquos referendum Varoufakis saidTsipras later thanked Varoufakis for his ceaseless efforts to defend the interests of Greece in negotiations with creditors according to government spokesman Gabriel SakellaridisSakellaridis said the government would announce a new finance minister following a meeting between Tsipras and Greek political party leaders at the presidential palace with the exception of the NeoNazi party Efe news agency reportedThe prime minister feels the need to thank him Varoufakis for his ceaseless efforts to promote the positions of the government and the interests of the Greek people under very difficult circumstances the spokesman conveyedMeanwhile heads of European institutions in particular the European Commission EC the European Council the Eurogroup and the European Central Bank ECB held a teleconference on Monday morning to discuss the Greek situation in light of the countrys No vote in Sundays bailout referendumPresidents JeanClaude Juncker of EC Doland Tusk of the European Council Jeroen Dijsselbloem of the Eurogroup and Mario Draghi of the ECB took part in the meeting Efe news agency reportedJuncker said he respected the decision of the Greek citizens and explained the democratically elected leaders of the 18 countries of the Eurozone had been talking since Sunday nightThe matter will be further addressed on Tuesday before the European Parliament in Strasbourg France according to the EC presidentMeanwhile Dijsselbloem said that the result of the Greek referendum has been notedThis result is very regrettable for the future of Greece For recovery of the Greek economy difficult measures and reforms are inevitable We will now wait for the initiatives of the Greek authorities The Eurogroup will discuss the state of play on Tuesday July 7 he addedIn Paris French Finance Minister Michel Sapin asked the antiausterity Greek government to come up with serious and strong proposals to reach a crucial deal as the No vote in Sundays referendum does not fix anythingIts up to the Greek government to make proposals now The vote does not fix anything automatically Its a refusal of an attitude Sapin saidSpeaking to the local broadcaster Europe 1 Sapin acknowledged that the thread of dialogue is very tenuous and urged Athens to show that it is serious about negotiation and make serious and solid proposals in order to bridge differences with its creditors and help the debtridden country get back again on its feetThere is a risk of leaving the euro but there is no automatic exit In the same way the vote doesnt mean automatically that Greece stays in the euro What will determine whether it stays or leaves is the quality of negotiations that will start the French minister addedSapin reiterated Frances stance to keep Greece among the member countries of the singlecurrency bloc Xinhua news agency reported He also pledged to help the leftwing Greek government to alleviate the countrys debt burden without giving accurate proposalsIn London British Prime Minister David Cameron chaired a meeting of senior ministers and officials to assess the impact on Britain of Greeces No vote on its austerity packageBank of England Governor Mark Carney and Chancellor George Osborne were present at the meetingThe headquarters of the executive arm of the British government said in a statement that contingency plans were already in place following the decisive referendum outcome BBC reportedAccording to the BBC report the British government could not stand back from events in Greece with over two million Britons visiting the country each year and over 40000 residing thereBefore the vote Cameron had predicted Greece would leave the eurozone if it voted No because it would be a very significant default and a very significant problem and the chancellor has warned Britain cannot be immune from the Greek crisis