Greece, creditors dig in after debt talks founder

By Renee Maltezou & Andreas Rinke

Greece and its creditors stuck to their positions on Monday after the collapse of talks aimed at preventing a default and possible euro exit, while Germany?s EU commissioner said it was time to prepare for a ?state of emergency.?

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras ignored pleas from European leaders to act fast. Instead he blamed creditors for the collapse of the cash-for-reform talks on Sunday, the biggest setback in long-running negotiations to secure more aid for Greece.

Germany and other major creditor countries demanded that the Athens government come to its senses and offer new proposals.

?It won?t work that Greece sets the terms and says ?everyone has to dance to our tune?. Greece needs to get back to reality,? Volker Kauder, parliamentary floor leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel?s conservatives, told ARD television.

The European Commission said it would only resume mediation efforts if Greece put forward new proposals, while the Greek government spokesman said Athens would stick to its rejection of wage and pension cuts and higher taxes on basic goods.

?We have largely exhausted our limits,? Greek spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis said.

Athens now has just two weeks to find a way out of the impasse before it faces a 1.6 billion euro repayment due to the International Monetary Fund, potentially leaving it out of cash, unable to borrow and teetering on the edge of the currency area.

Despite the deepening crisis, Sakellaridis said Tsipras was going ahead with a planned visit to Russia from Thursday, the day eurozone finance ministers hold a crucial meeting in Luxembourg to review the standoff with Greece. He is due to stay till Saturday, attend an economic forum in Saint...