Europe scrambles to respond to Greek 'No' on bailout

European leaders reacted with a mix of dismay and caution Sunday after Greek voters defied their warnings of a possible "Grexit" by saying a resounding 'No' to creditors' harsh bailout terms.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, leader of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, who had warned ahead of Sunday's crunch referendum a 'No' vote would likely lead to Greece exiting the single currency, termed the result "very regrettable".

"I take note of the outcome of the Greek referendum. This result is very regrettable for the future of Greece," the Dutch finance minister said in a statement.

Germany's vice chancellor Sigmar Gabriel took an even dimmer view of the message sent by austerity-addled Greeks after they rallied to a call by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras for a boosted mandate to pursue a more lenient debt deal that includes debt forgiveness.

Leading the reaction from Germany, Gabriel, who heads the centre-left Social Democratic Party that shares power with Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, accused Tsipras of having "torn down the last bridges which Europe and Greece could have crossed to find a compromise."

"By saying 'No' to the eurozone's rules... negotiations over billions of euros in bailout programmes are difficult to imagine," Gabriel told his country's Tagesspiegel newspaper, referring to Greece's request for a new bailout programme.....................

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