PM Tsipras to present new plan at eurozone summit

Greece, July-7 Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is expected to present new proposals at a Eurozone emergency summit on his country's growing debt crisis.

The plan is said to include a demand for Greece's debt to be cut by up to 30%, after voters rejected the terms of an international bailout on Sunday.

Athens has been urged to make "serious" proposals as Greece faces the risk of default on its $331bn (£213bn) debt.

Greece's banks are to stay closed on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Meanwhile, global stock markets proved resilient on Tuesday, despite Greece's rejection of the bailout terms.

Eurozone finance ministers will begin their meeting in Brussels later on Tuesday before a full summit of eurozone leaders.

Mr Tsipras may be prepared to accept many of the demands made by Greece's creditors, the BBC's Chris Morris in Athens reports.

But – emboldened by his resounding win in the referendum – Mr Tsipras also wants changes and substantial debt relief, our correspondent says.

Central to any negotiations will be new Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, who replaced outspoken Yanis Varoufakis on Monday.

Mr Tsakalotos has admitted he is nervous and worried about the crisis, but said Greece deserved a better deal.

However, Germany earlier warned against any unconditional write-off of Greece's debt, saying it would destroy the single currency.

"I really hope that the Greek government – if it wants to enter negotiations again – will accept that the other 18 member states of the euro can't just go along with an unconditional haircut [debt write-off]," said German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB) said it would maintain existing levels of emergency cash support for Greek banks, which are running out of funds and on the verge of collapse.

However, it told the banks to lodge more collateral with the Bank of Greece, reducing the amount of spare cash the banks have.

Source:BBC