Eurozone rejects Greek bailout extension

The eurozone prepared to deal with a Greek debt default next week after refusing to extend credit following Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's surprise announcement of a referendum on an offer from creditors.

Athens asked for an extension of Greece's bailout program beyond Tuesday, the day it must pay 1.6 billion euros to the International Monetary Fund or go bust. But the other 18 members of the eurozone unanimously rejected the request, freezing Greece out of further discussions with the European Central Bank and IMF on how to deal with the fallout from a historic breach in the EU's 16-year-old currency. 

Eurozone finance ministers met in Brussels for what had been intended as a final negotiation for a deal to rescue Greece from defaulting on a debt payment Tuesday, when an international bailout expires.

The Eurogroup of finance members shut out Greece's Yanis Varoufakis from a meeting in Brussels and issued a statement without him, accusing Athens of breaking off negotiations unilaterally.

Germany's finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, said: "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."

Varoufakis said the refusal to provide an extension "will certainly damage the credibility of the eurogroup as a democratic union of partner member states."

Greece had requested an extension so that it can hold a referendum July 5 on the reform program demanded by creditors. Without a bailout program, it is uncertain whether Greece will be able to continue to receive emergency support for its banks.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the top-tanking eurozone official, said Saturday at the end of a eurozone finance ministers' meeting that "however regretful, the program will expire on Tuesday night. That is the latest stage we could have reached an agreement, and it will expire on Tuesday night."

Finance ministers of the other 18 countries sharing the euro met for the first time without Greece and flatly rejected its pleas to extend the bailout. The 18 pledged to do whatever it takes to stabilize the common currency area and said they were in much better shape to do so than at the height of the eurozone crisis a few years ago. 

Worried the country could default and even leave the eurozone, some Greeks queued up at cash machines to withdraw funds, though there were no signs of panic in Athens. Many sounded defiant, saying Tsipras had offered them an important chance to determine their own fate.

Greek government officials said there was no plan to impose capital controls that would limit withdrawals.

Wire services