Withdrawal from the European Union

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Monday during a private conversation with three people who wished not to be identified that Greece would stay in the euro for the time being even if Greek voters rejected austerity in a referendum on July 5.

Standard & Poor’s rating agency cut Greece’s credit grade by one notch further into junk status amid the country’s deteriorating financial situation. The agency says it now sees a 50-percent chance of Greece leaving the eurozone.

Greece's left-wing government plans to ask the country's citizens on Sunday whether to accept or reject the demands of its creditors for extended bailout funding needed to avert a default.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said Monday that Greeks will be effectively voting on whether to stay in the euro in Sunday's referendum on bailout conditions set by the country's creditors.

Greece's government "made people [in the country] imagine wrong things after last Friday's discussions," EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said.

In a press conference aired live, he has insisted Greeks deserve to know the truth about the bailout proposals put forward by lenders last week.

Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said Monday he expects Greece will be able to reach an agreement with its bailout creditors before Tuesday night when its existing aid programme ends.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday he thought it would be hard for Greece to stay in the single currency if Greeks voted to reject a deal from international creditors in a forthcoming referendum.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble gave a press conference claiming that Greece is likely to find itself in a “difficult situation” over the coming days.

He said that the Greek decision to end negotiations with a call for a referendum surprised everybody, making it clear that this move will not solve Greece’s problems.

No sooner did Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announce the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) government’s decision to hold a referendum on the creditors’ proposals for Greece that the panic began. All hell broke loose as people rushed to ATMs in fear that banks would collapse, cars lined up at gas stations, people rushed to supermarkets to stock up on food and other necessities.