France

German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said on Tuesday the consequences of a Greek bankruptcy would be "gigantic" for Europe, but hoped a deal could be reached to avoid such a scenario.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has not heard from European leaders or the IMF chief who met in Berlin to discuss his cash-strapped country's fate, following their late-night meeting on Monday, a Greek official said on Tuesday.

The heads of the IMF and European Central Bank unexpectedly joined talks on Greece's debt crisis June 1 as the cash-strapped country battles with its creditors to unlock desperately-needed bailout funds.

Dozens of French law enforcement officers on June 2 cleared several hundred African migrants from a camp under a subway bridge in northern Paris.

Talks between Greece and its international creditors are making progress but both sides still need to make further efforts to clinch a deal, EU Economics Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said on Tuesday.

The German press has been abuzz with its own interpretations of the meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, ECB Chief Mario Draghi, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and IMF Chief Christine Lagarde.  Most of the titles interpreted the meeting as a “last offer to Greece”.

Time is running out for the Greek Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government that is in a rush against time to decode the moves and intentions of Greece’s creditors from the European Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

By Nikos Chrysoloras, Alessandro Speciale & Rebecca Christie

European leaders and the head of the International Monetary Fund agreed to step up the intensity of talks over Greece?s fate after an extraordinary meeting in Berlin about ways to avert a default.

The word out of Berlin late Monday on the festering “Greek issue” is that “work must continue with real intensity”, a statement conveyed to Athens that more-or-less dispels hopes of a nearly clinched deal to free up bailout funds for the cash-strapped Greek government.

By Nikos Chrysoloras & Alessandro Speciale

Top level talks were said to be taking place in Berlin on Monday evening to hammer out a proposal that would be presented to Greece as its only realistic chance of avoiding default and safeguarding its membership of the euro.