Greece was on the brink of economic meltdown as Germany looked poised to push the country out of the eurozone.
With Greece about to default on a 1.5 billion ($2.4 billion) debt repayment, senior German politicians warned "enough is enough". The Greek debt negotiations collapsed after just 45 minutes, amid fears Athens is now heading towards financial catastrophe.
Despite condemnation from European leaders following the breakup of the talks, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, said: "We will patiently wait until creditors turn to realism." He claimed the talks collapsed because European creditors wanted to slash Greek pensions and workers' wages. Tsipras' claims were immediately rejected by the European Commission. Guenther Oettinger, Germany's EU Commissioner, said Europe should brace itself for a "state of emergency" in Greece from July 1 if Athens did not reach an agreement with its creditors. Sigmar Gabriel, the head of Germany's Social Democrats, said time was running out for Tsipras' Government. "Everywhere in Europe, the sentiment is growing that enough is enough."
